TALES FROM THE FIELD
impact and can motivate people to do amazing things in their life.
This incredible man’s name was
John Stewart of AIPG Carolinas. Unfortunately, John passed away in April 2018. During 2018, I had the honor of serving with him on the AIPG Executive Committee board; I am fortu- nate to have had memories of our meet- ing in February 2018, as do the other 2018 board members. His death was one that I took very hard and I began to understand that it was because I lost a person in my life that was a “cheerleader” for my success, and when you no longer have that person that gave you so much pride in yourself, the grieving process can be incredibly difficult.
I cherish every moment, lesson, and
laugh with John. After his passing, I took a position in North Carolina and have been working on creating a more active AIPG section in this state, an effort he was involved with for many years. I realize that his impact on my life will continue in my professional career even though he is not physically present.
My hope is that by sharing my story,
I can inspire more young geologists to seek out those mentors, because they can truly change the course of your life, often in ways that you can’t imagine. And those of you who mentor, or may become mentors, you are vital to the development of the less-experienced. You can encourage determination, self- confidence, and tools to be a better professional.
Young professionals, please remem-
ber to appreciate those around you, especially those who take the time to give you guidance. Too frequently, we wish we could thank those we have lost for everything they gave to us. An email, text, call, or chat over a beer (we are geologists) can mean a great deal to someone who cares about your future.
Thank you to all those people who
have impacted my career so far and who give back to AIPG. You are the foundation of an organization that I am incredibly proud to be a part of. I offer my condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of John Stewart; I know you miss his vibrant personality and infectious smile just as much as I do. We must follow his example and continue to invest in the future of the geological profession. That is the greatest way we can honor our friend, John Stewart
Unexpected Encounters of the Grizzly Kind
Paul Smith, CPG-6847
Paul Smith recently retired after working as a professional geologist for about 40 years all over the US, Latin America and eastern Europe.
It was late summer in 1973, or per-
haps 1974, and I and Rich Paulus, my friend and fellow student, were exploring exposures of thrust faults in Montana and Alberta. We had climbed up to the edge of the tree line and were about to break out into the open on a large open rocky slope, with me in the lead, when I pushed some brush aside and saw directly ahead, about a hundred yards or so away, a large (it looked enormous) grizzly bear. The bear saw us at the same time, raised its head and looked straight at me. I immediately froze in place, but Rich, coming along behind and not hav- ing seen the bear yet, ran into me from behind and mumbled something in sur- prise. I saw the bear’s ears flick when it heard Rich’s words. We had no weapons of any kind with us, except for our rock hammers, so we would have been totally helpless if it had decided to attack us. Fortunately it didn’t. It looked at us for a few moments, which seemed like an eternity, and then went back to what it had been doing before we interrupted it.
Unable to proceed any further we sat
and watched it for a while, as one after the other it turned over the boulders that littered the slope and seemed to sniff around under each one before moving on to the next. I never knew what it had been doing until decades later, watching a TV documentary on grizzlies, when I saw a film of another grizzly doing the same thing. Grizzly bears, I learned, like to fatten up for winter by munching on fat- and sugar- rich moths that rest under rocks during the heat of the day on slopes above the tree line. A grizzly can consume thousands of these moths in a single day.
Anyway, to get back to the story, we
decided to postpone our plans for the day, since the bear was heading off in the same direction that we had been planning to go. So we gave up looking for thrust faults for that day, hiked back down the mountain, and went looking for a few cold beers instead.
www.aipg.org
Jul.Aug.Sep 2019 • TPG 31
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