I still remember the first rock show I ever attended with my parents 55 years ago. In fact, I still have the tumble-polished beach agate I was given at that show. In 2018, I enjoyed the birth of my first grandchild. Ever since, as my parents did, I’ve attempted to feed a budding rockhound. No doubt, Lukáš in far-off Scotland will not remember receiving his first California jade pebble nor a recent field trip to Michigan, but we hope memories will build and stick.
Ten-year-old Jack Arthur from Lyons, Colorado, enjoys similar cross-generational support from his mom Yeni and his grandma Maureen and grandad Randy. From an early age, Jack became fascinated with dinosaurs as a result of the Jurassic Park movies and a LEGO dinosaur set. This interest led to visits to see fossils at Dinosaur Ridge and the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, as well as visits to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and the Smithsonian National Museum in Washington, D.C., where his uncle Duncan lives. To nurture Jack’s interest, aunt Nancy McGehee gave him a subscription to Rock & Gem magazine.
At school, Jack always has shown a general interest in science. His interest in minerals and fossils, in particular, started at the age of four. Since that time, that interest has taken him on adventures to museums and to the Denver Gem & Mineral Show, as well as field trips to road cuts in and around his hometown and elsewhere for personal collecting.