I have a picture of myself picking up rocks at the age of three. This was a sign of the future. I collected all kinds of things as a kid ­ stamps, coins, rocks, insects, etc. But when I traded a 1921 S penny (or some year) to a classmate for some pyrite crystals from a Pennsylvania coal mine, I thought that I had the greatest treasure ever. By the time I was in Junior High School, I knew that I wanted to be a geologist. I didn't know any geologists and no one in my family had gone to college, so I don't know where I got that interest.
I did have many adventures and met several people who helped me on my way. These are not in chronological order, just remembrances of the past. When I was eleven there was a rocks and minerals merit badge for Boy Scouts. I went to see the merit badge councilor and he told me to find a sample of feldspar and come back in a week. I had no idea what feldspar was, little did I know that it is the most common mineral group in the earth's crust (about 51 %) and part of almost all igneous rocks. I got out my mineral books, started reading, and looked every where for the elusive feldspar. I don't remember what I took back to him, but it was a good way to get me thinking and looking. I remember that he also gave me some samples for my collection.
I got a book in the library - The Geology of Northampton County, Pennsylvania. I read it and started looking for places to go. One thing the book described was a deposit of peat. So I got on my bike and rode out to the area that was about six miles away but couldn't find any peat. I knocked on a door and asked the lady who answered if she knew about peat moss. She told me that nobody by that name lived around there. I tried to explain, but eventually gave up. On that same expedition I knocked the book in a creek. I retrieved it and tried to dry it out, but the library made my parents pay for a new one. The great thing was that I now had my own copy, slightly water stained, but all mine.
About ten miles away was Lost Cave (I think they changed the name to Lost River Caverns.). Usually only the owner, a Mr. Gilman, was there and he had

a little rock shop. I would ride my bike over there about eight or nine miles, and if there was no one to tour the cave he would show me the minerals that he had in the shop. I bought my first specimen from him ­ a galena crystal from Missouri.
I subscribed to Rocks and Minerals some time in the 1950s, The very first issue I received had an article about a phosphate mineral locality a few miles from my house. I rode my bike over there and collected cacoxenite, beraunite, and what I thought was wavellite. Turned out later to be a new mineral ­ Matulaite. I missed that one.
My parents were very supportive and they joined the Mineralogical Society of Pennsylvania and the North Jersey Mineralogical Society so we could go on club trips. Both clubs had trips once a month during the summer. In those days you could get into almost all the quarries and collect. In fact some quarries welcomed people. The quarry at Blue Ball, Pennsylvania was always the location of the MSP's annual meeting. The quarry owner would bring a truck from a local dairy and give away drinks and ice cream to everyone. My brothers had to go on lots of collecting trips, but never really had a great interest.
The point to all of this is: please encourage children to collect rocks and minerals, give them extra specimens, take them on a trip ­ you never know what might result.

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