Bill Witte

March 25th an elderly gentleman Bill Witte stopped in to inquire about the Rock Shop. He first hoped to find the original owner of the rock shop, when we knew nothing of her he told us how he previously owned all his own rock finishing equipment but over the years had sold it off.
He also told us he used to love to come to the Rock Shop to buy rocks that he would cut and polish. He said his interest has mostly now to do with finishing his stones that he never got around to cutting. He then told us that he's in hospice care and does not expect to live more than a few months. He just finished his third round of chemotherapy. We took down his contact information and told him we would get back with him.

Paul asked around at GVSU anyone knew of a group that had such equipment and could help facilitate helping Bill get these stones cut. Jenny also asked another GVSU professor, Kevin Cole, about the possiblities of getting access to such equipment and he gave her the names of two rock clubs: The Indian Mounds Mineral Club (Wyoming, MI) and the Tulip City Rock and Mineral Club (in you guesed it, Holland,MI) I did a web search after hearing about these two clubs and found these pages.

the Indian Mounds Mineral Club website: http://tomaszewski.net/~IMRMC/Index.shtml
(Has the info about the club, meetings, dues, etc)

And linked to it is the real gem....
the Kreigh's Web Resources Collection for Rockhounds:
http://tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Minerals/MineralLinks.shtml
(this filled with all kinds of info about rocks, you should check this out, they even have a 'rockhound' survey)

Through these websites and a google I found the contact info for:

Richard K Smith of the Tulip City Rock and Mineral Club- very friendly who is working to contact someone who "does the sort of lapidary work you're describing."

These rockhounds are a friendly prompt lot. I emailed him and he emailed me back within the hour and called me later that night.
Bill would need to make a trip to Holland though so I had my fingers crossed that someone from GR would contact me.

I made my next contact on the same day with the Indian Mounds Rock and Mineral Club, with Don Van Dyke who got back with me a day later and stated "Personally we(the Van Dykes) would very much like to help him." They are retired so there schedule is very flexable.

Also from the Indian Mounds group, Ed Benjamin emailed me today offering up his time. " At 82...I may not be all that far from Bill's age! I'm the long time Club Editor, but do spend a little time "playing with rocks." Ed was very specific in his emails asking for more details as to what kind of rocks Bill hoped to cut and outlining the type of tools and styles of rock finishing he had experience with. He used lots of lingo, which I thought would help me figure out what Bill needed.
He also brought up the fact that this past weekend at Rogers Plaza, the Indian Mounds Rock and Mineral club had just had it's annual show. He had a fantastic story about his 1990 horizon that broke down during the communte home from the big event. "After spending too much of our "lifetime reserves" we now have transportation (thank heavens)!"
His email was signed with this:
"Ed Benjamin – (Old enough to have blown Taps for veterans of World
War I, The Spanish American War, and one from The Civil War! Yes, I
was a LOT younger then!"

I liked him best for the job of assisting Bill Witte.

I left Bill a message about calling me to outline what tools he needed, what techniques he hoped to use, and the types and sizes of rocks he planned to work with so those who wanted to help him could better know if they had the tools to help him. Impulsively at 4:30 today I got in my car and drove to find his home as he had given us his address.

He lives in a senior citizen appartment complex that is very depressing and bleak. It was a relatively nice place as those things go. I Looked for his name and buzzed him, he buzzed me right up.

It took him a minute to aclimate himself to who I was but before long I was reading him the emails, he was laughing and excited at the possiblity that this was actually going to happen. He showed me various collections of rocks that he had organized all over his very clean appartment.

We decided to call Ed and set something up for this week. Ed was hard of hearing but we had a good conversation and we will be meeting at the Rock Shop to start working on Bill's agates thursday at 12:30. Ed plans to come at 12:00 to get things set up for Bill. I plan to photo document there process as well as interviewing them about there hobby.

Bill was practically in tears by the time I left his appartment, he and I talked a great deal about how aging is so isolating and so many people have little to no human contact on a daily basis. He thanked me for my help at least a dozen times and when I went to shake his hand to leave he squeezed it gently and said "see you on Thursday!"

I hate to gush but it almost made me cry.

I can't wait for the meeting of the 'Rockhounds' yet to come! All are welcome to stop by if your want.

April 12, 2005

April 15, 2005

The Meeting of the Rockhounds!

Bill and Ed were both at the Rock Shop when I arrived at 11:50am, it seemed as if they had been talking for quite sometime in front of the building.

Ed and I shook hands and I was blown away by Ed's presence and spirit right away. Ed is 83 but looks to be somewhere in his late 60's. His hair is dark with strands of grey. He was wearing a rock he had refinished on one of those western style ties.... I don't know what they are called. It is a large black rock with white speckles in it. Ed is a very limber and active 83 year old, he moves with little effort and I can;'t recall if I have ever met a man his age who is so lively and positive. He says he and Bill have a number of connections and says that we should start unloading his equipment from his burgandy mini van so we can get started. I went to grab the most heavy thing and he says he wouldn't feel right having a lady caring it so I take two of the lighter boxes. He grins.
Bill is quite quiet and pale, I get the impression that he is very excited but is not feeling very well. He is quite distant and distracted but is trying hard to stay focused. He helps us unload and we get started putting things together. Ed starts showing me his other stone neckties and bill goes to his car and gets his.