January President’s Message

Happy 68th Anniversary CMS!

January 13th is the 68th anniversary of the first club meeting. The club was called “Sebac Mineralogical Society” and the meeting was held in the T-102 Building on Ellis Avenue. “Sebac” was an abbreviation of “Seattle Boeing Airplane Company”.

We will be serving an anniversary cake and refreshments at our January 12th meeting. So be sure to attend the meeting and celebrate. I feel we should be proud that our club is still going strong and growing on our 68th anniversary.

As I sit here writing and looking back on 2016, I feel it has been good year for our Club.

We have tried several new events to get better exposure for our club and new members. Mark Hohn also built us a new website which has dramatically increased traffic and inquiries about our club. End results is that we did increase our membership.

I want to thank several of our Board of Director Members for their long and dedicated service to our club. Bob & Jacqui Pattie, Rich Russell and Pete Williams have served on our Board, in some capacity, for many years since the 1970’s. We owe a lot of our clubs continuing success to them.

We also have several long time members (some also since the 1970’s) that have been very supportive and active members. They continue to volunteer on various projects when needed. A special thanks to Dick and Keith Morgan, Roger Pullen, Stan Loreen, Bob & Linda Wahlberg, Bev Williams, Mike Blanton, Tony Johnson and Diana Horsfall. If I have left someone out I am so very sorry, it’s an unintentional oversight.

Thank you to everyone that has volunteered at the Puyallup Fair and Gem Fair booths. It was a big committment on the part of our club and I sincerely appreciated your help.

In 2017 I will be again committing our club to doing the Puyallup Fair and the Gem Fairs. So again I will be looking for volunteers to help at our booths.

We are continuing to seek a location to put on a club Gem & Rock Show in 2018. I am also continuing to seek a indoor location for our lapidary shop. If you have any location ideas for the Board to check out please let me know.

Kat Koch, CMS President

Updated: January 14, 2017 — 12:01 pm

Presidents Message

  • From the Top of the Rock Pile 2024 is in our rearview mirror. It was a very successful year for our club. We moved our Cascade Gem Show to June at Kent Commons. It has been an excellent decision for our club. We had the largest attendance since resuming our shows in 2018, with approximately 3,200 visitors! The proceeds from our two club auctions in 2024 brought in around $1,800. These funds help to cover our club’s largest expense, the liability insurance policy. I expect the premium for 2025 will be near $3,000. Our booth at the Puyallup Gem Faire …

Meeting Announcements

  • February 13th – Jim Cerenzie – Finding New (Old) Rockhounding Sites Our club member, Jim Cerenzie, is going to speak on how he finds long forgotten sites to hunt for rocks and crystals. He has a YouTube channel called the “Vug Meister” where he and his son go rockhounding to these places. If you watch YouTube please support him by subscribing to his channel. Show ‘n Tell: Your favorite rockhounding find. It can be a find from a field trip, your yard, the beach, or a riverbed.

  • March 13th – Field Trip Preview by Roger Danneman Where will we go this year? Join our wagonmaster Roger Danneman as he gives us a preview of all of the places the Club will explore this year on field trips – and what kinds of materials you might find there. Show ‘n Tell: Something you’ve found on a prior field trip (with a club or on your own!).

  • April 10th – Rock BINGO Kent schools on spring break. So all you members, junior members and their friends, your grandkids, guests it is time for our Rock Bingo night.  Everyone is guaranteed to be a winner. Rock Bingo is free tonight – bring 3 wrapped presents (see below). Maximum 3 game cards per player. Each player is to bring 3 wrapped presents. Rocks, minerals, fossils, cabachons, slabs, jewelry, or anything that you think would be a nice gift.  Guests do not need to bring any wrapped items.

  • May 8th – Glaciers by Paul Ahnberg What are the benefits of glaciers? Glaciers, slow-moving rivers of ice, have sculpted mountains and carved valleys throughout Earth’s history. They continue to flow and shape the landscape in many places today. But glaciers affect much more than the landscape. Show ‘n Tell: A white or clear mineral or crystal.

Current News