Al & Sue Liebetrau
Jim Mills photo (above); all other photos by Jeff Scovil except as noted.
We both grew up in Wisconsin. Al is a retired teacher and statistician with degrees in math and statistics; Sue taught English and worked as a technical editor. We have collected rocks, minerals, and fossils together since our marriage 60 years ago. Sue started collecting as a child and “corrupted” Al, who was not keen about digging rocks because he had grown up on a dairy farm situated on the moraines of the Wisconsin glacier where hauling rocks from the fields was a springtime ritual. As beginners, we were encouraged to collect good minerals by Burnell Franke (Burnie’s Rock Shop) and we gained valuable experience about collecting and exhibiting from members of the Elgin (Illinois) Rock and Mineral Society, especially Lloyd Akins. Ben Clement took us under his wing and showed us the wonders of fluorite and fluorescent minerals. In the 1960s, when we made five round trips from the Midwest to Oregon, we stopped at every rock shop and at numerous collecting sites along the way. We have since lived—and collected—in many areas of the U.S. and Europe, where we learned the importance of historical provenance from Lindsay and Patricia Greenbank. We have been active in the Friends of Mineralogy, where Sue was Secretary, and the Fluorescent Mineral Society, where Al was President. He currently leads the effort to organizing a major exhibit of fluorescent minerals for the 2021 TGMS show. Sue has worked as an editor for Lithographie and is a co-editor of the American Mineral Treasures book in 2008. We enjoy showing our collection and are proud to have won several major awards. We were honored to be the featured collectors at the Tucson Westward Look show in February 2014. At home, we enjoy collecting with fellow Central Oregon Rock Collectors. Indeed, the many friends we have made while pursuing our addiction are perhaps the best collection of all!
Silver (“Christmas Tree”), 4.5 cm, from the New Nevada mine, Batopilas, Chihuahua, Mexico. From Gene Schlepp, Western Minerals.
Fossilized wood (Araucaria or Woodworthia, Chinle Formation), colored by chromium, 20 cm, from near Winslow, Navajo County, Arizona. From Tom Robertson, Robertson’s Rock Works.
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Supplement to the Mineralogical Record, September–October, 2019