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After Action Report – Father’s Day

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After Action Report

Father’s Day

by Samuel E. Warren Jr.

Sunday, June 19, 2011 – Father’s Day

spend the day at a rock show.

A city park in Ozark, Missouri, in Christian County, hosted the rock show.

My cousin, Donna is a “rock hound.

My wife, Christy is a “rock hound.”

Me, I’m just an old country boy from Stone County, Missouri, who likes rocks, but, isn’t worthy of the “rock hound” label . . . yet.

The white banner announced in big red letters to motorists and passerby : Gem Fair. There were several vendors from throughout Missouri who came to display their minerals, stones and gems. KCGemDude from Kansas City had some display cases of Ruby, Sapphire and even lesser publicized gems like: Apatite, among the numerous gems.

I was in my “ Father’s Day – holiday “ mode, rather than my usual Joe Reporter mode – I took my trusty camera, but, my wife, Christy, shot most of the photographs of the day. I spent most of the day looking at the gems and minerals.

I’ve always been a people watcher, so I watched people looking at the minerals.

Donna and Ken had their tables set up with displays of Amazonite, Adamite, and Hematite, – to mention just a few of the minerals that come quickly to my mind. Plus, amid the packets of Apache Tears and the small samples of Galena, naturally there was the State of Missouri’s Official Stone – Mozarkite.

Ah, but do you know, the State of Missouri’s Official Fossil ? Suffice to say, Donna and Ken had Missouri’s official fossils on display.

A shopper at the Gem Fair in Ozark Missouri browses the selections. Photo by Christy Warren

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to a retired United States Air Force photographer, who shared some of his photography stories from his active duty days and told me how he became interested in rocks and minerals as a child.

Once you retire, it seems that you find yourself surfing the Internet and watching the TV news only to learn that “retirement” is an idea that seems to belong to previous generations as the global economy seems to remain in a nose dive toward oblivion.

Real estate is usually considered a sound investment, but when you see the For Sale signs sprouting up like weeds in the countryside – you wonder if the Real Estate market will recover at some time in the future.

What about jewelry and gems ?

Platinum, gold and silver prices seem to rise faster than temperatures on a July day. People say that gems and jewelry are investments – then, again, people once swore that real estate was a wise investment. Curious fellow that I am, I have been listening and trying to make sense of information that is being released on gemstones and jewelry.

Burmese rubies and jade seem to be extinct on the world market thanks to embargoes and bans. Gems like Tsavorite, Kunzite, Morganite, Alexandrite, and Tourmaline are being talked about as investments, which means I have to research these gemstones because I am from the 1950s and 1960s generations that thinks the word, gemstones, relates to Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, Opals and Topaz.

At the Gem Fair in Ozark, I was surprised to see Kunzite and Labadorite – two minerals that I have been hearing a lot about lately. I saw some small Kunzite stones that could be used for pendants or rings.

One artistic vendor had a display tray of Labadorite that he had cut in many different shapes that could be used to wire wrap the stones to make pendants. One of his unique offering is what he smiled and referred to as, “Detroit Agate.” More commonly known as “Fordite.”

Fordite is a unique . . . stone. Apparently, layers of automobile paint from a body shop is allowed to runoff and collect in a designated area. Then, someone who knows how to work with the hardened paint material apparently cuts it into stone shapes. It does produce some beautiful designs that reminded me of picture jasper. I forgot to ask if there is a mineral known as “Chevyite.”

I enjoyed watching people shop at the various vendors. One serious woman shopper walked into the show with her softcover book on rocks and she would look at the specimens and refer to her book. It is interesting to watch boys and girls look at the minerals.

The youth study the minerals like a customer, who takes his or her time to closely examine gems in a jewelry store. The youth study the minerals and go back and forth looking at other minerals. More often, than not, a youth will return to the first mineral and either ask questions or buy the specimen that has caught his or her eye.

The intent that a boy or girl looks at the minerals is remarkable because they seem to block out everything around them as they study the specimen. I wondered how many of these young boys and girls would go on to become future geologists, miners, mining engineers, jewelers, or just continue through the years to enjoy their lifelong hobby of “ rock collecting” ?

The show was a wonderful way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. Several dads spent some of their Father’s Day by shopping with their sons and daughters who browsed intently at the various stones on display on the vendor’s tables.

My wife, Christy loves to look at the stones and minerals – and given enough time, Christy will be browsing through cabachons for natural stones to wire wrap for pendants and earrings.

Christy Warren picks through the cabachons of a Joplin, Missouri vendor at the Gem Fair on Sunday afternoon and by Monday morning she has completed a wire wrap of the free form stone to create a pendant. Photo by Samuel E. Warren Jr.

Naturally, on Father’s Day, you think of your dad. Several times during the day, I thought about my dad.

Near the end of the show, a smiling young man picks out his specimens of Galena and thrusts a bill in my face. I smile and wrap the Galena for him. As the young man walked away smiling at his Galena specimen, I remembered my grandfather in east Texas.

Joseph Samuel Warren and Elizabeth Warren, of Simpsonville, in Upshur County, Texas, in 1960, made the trip to visit their grandson, Samuel E. Warren Jr., in Stone County, Missouri. When “Mr. Sam” and “Miss Ellie” returned to the flat lands of east Texas, he enjoyed telling neighbors about his trip – and with a smile, “Papa” Warren would add, “The whole time I was in Missouri visiting my grandson I never set foot on solid ground. I kept stepping on the stones of Stone County.”