Dr. Jean Lowry - Pioneer

Jean Lowry, a founder of the Wytheville Grotto, in Nebo Cave. Photo by Wayne Whitt.

In the comments section of an earlier post, Scott H suggested a link to a web site that references Dr. Jean Lowry's participation in the "Wytheville Grotto", a spelunking club that operated in spectacular caving country of western Virginia from 1950-1958. The article is from a tape recorded interview Jean gave in which she talked about her introduction to spelunking, adventures and mishaps in Virginia caves, and the founding of the Wytheville Grotto "organization".

Jean pioneered cave exploration and mapping in the Wytheville, VA, area prior to her teaching career - first in the Geography Department, and later as the first faculty member in the newly formed Geology Department - at East Carolina University.

In the mid-1900's, women were not supposed to study geology at Yale; women were not supposed to crawl through the mud and muck of caves by night, and then show up for work the following morning at the Virginia Geological Survey.

But Jean did. The word "conventional" was never part of her vocabulary.

In case you missed it, or in case you would like to read it again, S. Snyder wrote a very nice piece on Dr. Jean Lowry in the 2004 Alumni Newsletter, following her death on November 16, 2003. You can find Scott's tribute here, if you scroll down to the third article.

It is impossible for a group of ECU geology alums from the late '60s to early '80s to get together and not share laughs and smiles over Jean Lowry stories and tales. People such as Jean inspire us and enrich our lives.

That we all might be so lucky as to be remembered so fondly.

(Thanks to J. Watson for the link to the Wytheville Grotto article!!)

On Shaky Ground in New Hampshire?

The folks in New Hampshire were treated to a couple of earthquakes over the past weekend. I say "treated" because I actually like to feel the earth rumble. Not too much, mind you; just enough to remind me of the processes taking place within the earth's crust. It is not only naive to forget the earth's dynamics, and how geologically instantaneous events contribute much of what we observe in the geologic record, it can be very dangerous and costly.

Last weekend's events in New Hampshire were small - magnitude 1.4 and 1.9 - and many people probably didn't even notice them. A magnitude 5.5 quake that rocked the area in 1940 likely drew a bit more attention. Historic earthquakes have been recorded as far back as 1663.

The eastern passive margin of North America doesn't compete with the western active margin in terms of earthquake frequency. Still, those on the east coast get to feel the ground shake occasionally. I've felt quite a few mild earthquakes having lived and worked in places like Nevada, California, Montana, and in the Andes of Peru, but the first quake I experienced occurred in Raleigh, NC. And then there was that magnitude 7.3 rock-n-roller that caught the attention of Charleston, SC, in 1886.

I can't claim to have experienced any large, or even moderate, quakes. Probably magnitude 3 ... maybe 4 ... max. I felt the 1989 earthquake that hit San Francisco and interrupted the World Series. I was at the office in Reno, Nevada.

Who has their own memorable earthquake experience? Post 'em in the comments below!

You've been challenged!

Down in the comments section of our first blog post I found this from Scott H:

"I will donate $1 to the ECU Geology Century fund for each legit new alumnus or current grad student who posts a comment for the month of June! How's that for an incentive?"

Consider yourselves challenged! Hmmm ... maybe that didn't come out quite right. How about "How to Make a Donation to the ECU Geology Century Fund While Using Scott's Money". Yeah, that sounds better. And all you have to do is leave a comment - what the heck, leave multiple comments, we'll get some discussion going - on any of the posts you find here in the month of June. Schweeeet.

Of course, we will also consider accepting your money as well as Scott's. Both are considered legal tender here. If you haven't done so yet, or don't know how, contact Dare or Steve in the Geology office. Or, leave a comment - thereby spending some of Scott's money ... heh heh - and we'll contact you.

I'll put together a post soon to let you know in detail how these donations are used. It really is for a good cause, folks. Remember when you were a starving student trying to get a leg up?

A leg up ... maybe I'll just stop right here.