MSA MEETING PROGRAM & PLACE
Franciscan Renewal Center, (Piper Hall),
April 21, 2022 @ 7.30 pm Arizona time
"Bisbee - America's Mineral Locality", Richard W. "Dick" Graeme III, King and Keeper of Bisbee's Legacy”
Presented by Mr. Les Presmyk and Mr. Mark Hay
APRIL meeting is on 3rd Thursday.
MEETING will be In-Person and Zoom.
MSA April 21, 2022 program will be presented by our own Mr. Les Presmyk and Mr. Mark Hay, "Bisbee - America's Mineral Locality", Richard W. "Dick" Graeme III, King and Keeper of Bisbee's Legacy.”
On June 2, 2021, Arizona mineral icon, Richard W. “Dick” Graeme III, passed away. Dick was an honored member of the local collecting community and a worldwide recognized authority on the history, mining and mineralogy of Bisbee, Arizona. A group of Arizona collectors organized an exhibit at 2022 Tucson Show to pay tribute to Dick and the contributions he made.
The group was led by Dick’s sons, Richard W. Graeme IV and Douglas Graeme, along with Arizona collectors Les Presmyk and Mark Hay. The tribute consisted of 18 cases highlighting the rich mineral legacy of Bisbee. This exhibit was put on by the friends and family of Dick. Every exhibitor knew Dick and had been touched by his generosity and willingness to share his knowledge about Bisbee.
Dick dedicated his life to preserving all things Bisbee, from its mining history to its mineralogy and specimens. This culminated in what will be a three-volume set covering all of these aspects of Bisbee. The first two volumes have been published and can be purchased by contacting Les Presmyk with proceeds benefiting the two UArizona Mineral Museums and the Flagg Mineral Foundation. The third volume will be available summer of 2022.
The 18 cases displayed at the 2022 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show(R) just did not happen by contacting a group of collectors and a few museums to see if they would be interested in putting in an exhibit. In order to achieve what the four organizers wanted to accomplish and to tie all of the exhibits together, professionally designed backdrops and consistent labels were just part of the work necessary to make this happen. Numerous meetings were conducted between the organizers and all of the exhibitors. Fortunately, Les Presmyk and Mark Hay had the experience of having organized the 40 plus Arizona cases for the 2012 Tucson Gem and Mineral Show(R) celebrating Arizona's 100th birthday.
Save the date on your calendars for debut of this very special program for Mineralogical Society of Arizona!
Thank you, Les and Mark for your many contributions to our hobby and support of Mineralogical Society of Arizona!
Les Presmyk grew up in our club and sharpened his collecting & competitive edge at MSA as a junior member before advancing to regional and national platform to compete and win at several major gem & mineral shows across the United States.
Les retired five years ago as the Principal Mining Engineer for Salt River Project, Arizona’s second largest electric utility. He and his wife of 45 years, Paula, are Arizona natives and are both graduates of the University of Arizona. Les has been actively involved in his community of Gilbert, Arizona for over 25 years, serving as the Islands H.O.A. president, Planning Commissioner, and Town Council Member for 12 years and additional roles since 2011. Most recently he founded the Veterans Advisory Board and is the current chairperson.
Les started collecting at the age of 10 and just attended his 59th straight Tucson Show. Their displays have received AFMS Regional and National Trophies, along with the Prospectors and Pearl Trophies in Denver and the Desautels, Lidstrom and Bideaux Trophies at the Tucson Show. They have been the featured exhibitors at the East Coast Gem & Mineral Show in Springfield, Massachusetts twice.
He is the immediate past president of the Tucson Gem & Mineral Society, is a former President of the Mineralogical Society of Arizona, current Chairman of the Flagg Mineral Foundation, a founding member of the University of Arizona
Mineral Museum Advisory Board and appointed by Governor Ducey to the UArizona Mining, Mineral and Natural Resource Education Museum advisory board. He has served on the Tucson Show Committee for 36 years, including competitive exhibits and judging chairman for this entire period.
Les received the 2002 A. L. Flagg Distinguished Service Award, Is a charter member of the 2014 Mineralogical Society of Arizona Hall of Fame, and the recipient of the 2017 Carnegie Mineralogical Award.
He has explored and collected in a number of localities in Arizona, Missouri and Mexico and provided engineering expertise at the San Francisco mine in Sonora, Mexico, the Brushy Creek mine in Missouri and the Red Cloud mine
in Arizona. Les has written numerous articles and co-authored “Collecting Arizona”. He has spoken at the Dallas Symposium, the Yale Symposium, and the Northwest Friends of Mineralogy Symposium, along with numerous Arizona and New Mexico Symposiums, the Tucson, Springfield, and Denver Shows, and clubs throughout the United States.
Mark Hay grew up in southwest Colorado where he developed a love of mountains, rocks and nature. His family moved to Scottsdale when he was in high school. After graduating from Arizona State University with a degree in geology, he worked at the Magma Mine in Superior, Arizona. Magma was an underground, hardrock copper mine known for its beautifully crystallized specimens of barite, calcite and pyrite. It was there that his interest in mineral collecting began. That was over 40 years ago. Today, he specializes in Arizona minerals but has an appreciation for minerals from anywhere. He and Dick Morris, his long-time partner, did extensive field collecting in Arizona starting in the mid-1980s. This led to Minerals of Arizona, a retail mineral business he shared with Dick. Additionally, Mark has authored or co-authored numerous articles for the Mineralogical Record.
Meeting starts at 7.30PM Arizona time.
