Minutes of the NC Shell Club Meetings

 

North Carolina Shell Show, May 5-7, 2023

Crystal Coast Civic Center,

Morehead City, NC

The North Carolina Shell Club held its 45 th shell show May 5-7, 2023 at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, NC. This was the second year to have the show at this location and once again it was a great weekend. The club will continue to have our shell shows at this location, held the first weekend of May. Our 2024 Shell Show will be May 3-5, 2024. Dora Zimmerman and her advertising committee worked very hard to continue to get the word out about the show. The club advertised on many places on the Internet (Facebook, web pages), Print Magazines (Coaster and Island Review), Radio (94.1 FM), TV (WITN, Channel 12, Dan Minior’s interview), rack cards, appearances at the Oak Island Shell and Fossil Show and Earth Day at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, and road signs/flags. Many attendees heard of the show from friends and others attended last year. Dora and her committee will continue to research the best ways to advertise for our show. Over 780 people attended this year’s show, including people from NC, SC, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The show had 180 feet of scientific exhibits and 50 feet of artistic exhibits. Exhibitors hailed from several states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, Florida, Delaware, and New York. Judges were Dr. Harry Lee and Richard Goldberg Scientific and Nancy Timmerman, Artistic. Dealers attending this year were Sue Hobbs & Phil Dietz (Specimen Shells & Shells for Artists), Richard Goldberg (Worldwide Specimen Shells), and Brian Hayes (Algoa Bay Specimen Shells). Many club members volunteered their time, not only to produce the show, but also to help out at the club sales tables, membership table, registration, scavenger hunt, shell giveaway, Boy and Girl Scouts activity table, Children’s Activity Tables, and providing lunch for exhibitors, dealers, and club members. The Club Sales Tables brought in $2832.50. Proceeds from these sales help to fund scholarships our club sponsors for marine biology students at UNC-Wilmington and also the Everett Long Memorial Scholarship at Carteret Community College.

Our club merchandise sales brought in $1,021.00. We also added 43 new club memberships! Admissions brought in $1,795.00. Proceeds from these sales help to pay for club expenses, including the cost of holding a shell show. Be sure to check for shell show photos in future issues of American Conchologist Magazine, the NC Shell Club Newsletter, North Carolina Shell Club Facebook page, and our webpage at ncshellclub.com. On Sunday afternoon, a reporter from WITN interviewed Shell Show Co-Chairman John Timmerman for the 6 pm News. The link to the clip on the WITN website is: https://www.witn.com/video/2023/05/08/enc-hosts-41st-annual-event-showcase-shells-across-world/

Scientific and Artistic Awards:

Scientific and Artistic Ribbon Winners:

Shell Show Banquet, May 6, 2023

50 people attended tonight’s banquet for our 45th Shell Show. President Mark Johnson welcomed everyone to the banquet. Ed Shuller gave the blessing for our meal and fellowship. Mark recognized our Scientific Judges Dr. Harry Lee and Mr. Richard Goldberg, our Artistic Judge Ms. Nancy Timmerman, and our shell dealers Richard Goldberg, Brian Hayes, and Sue Hobbs/Phil Dietz. Also recognized were Shell Show Co-Chairs John Timmerman and Karlynn Morgan; Facility Co-Chairmen Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller; and Advertising Chairman Dora Zimmerman. A big thank you was extended to Diana Yeames and Jeannette Tysor for organizing the coffee, drinks, food and meals in the kitchen for exhibitors, club members and dealers to enjoy. Mark thanked them and all the volunteers that are needed to put on such a successful shell show. During the shell show weekend, the club gained 43 new memberships!

Tonight’s program was given by Dr. Harry Lee, with an introduction by Scott Foxx. Harry is a retired medical doctor who is also a life-long citizen scientist, beginning his interest in collecting shells in his youth. He is a former President of the Conchologists of America and active in his home shell club, the Jacksonville (FL) Shell Club. Harry also gives of his time serving as a scientific judge for shell shows up and down the east coast. His program was about “Rare Shells”, discussing what makes a shell considered rare and how that designation can change over time.

After the program, one of our current scholarship recipients at UNC-Wilmington, Madeleine Goldthorpe, said a few words thanking our club for the opportunity to receive a scholarship. She is pursuing a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Her undergraduate research will continue in graduate school. Madeleine hopes to obtain a PhD in genetics or cancer research. Our annual raffle prizes were presented to end the evening. Thank you to all who purchased raffle tickets. Two visitors to the shell show were the lucky winners, and they were both so excited to receive their prizes on Sunday. Jeffrey Ostermick won the Helmet Shell and Michelle Brooks won the shell/beach scene glass globe. The People’s Choice awards were announced: For Scientific, John & Jan Reaves for their exhibit “The Queen and her Court”. The Artistic winner was Sandy Powell for her art creation “Keeley the Mermaid”.

A special ending to the banquet in involved Life Membership in our club. The NC Shell Club started in 1957. In the following years, 19 members have been honored with Life Membership for their dedication and service to the club. In March, Ed Shuller was honored as our 19 th Life Member. Ed was honored tonight to introduce Life Member #20, his good friend and shelling buddy Jeannette Tysor. Jeannette joined the shell club in September of 2000 and has served as Vice-President, President, and Organizer of our Club Merchandise Sales over the years. She and Ed Co-Chaired the two Conchologists of America Conventions hosted by our club, in 2014 and again in 2023, and volunteered countless hours helping with the 2017 COA convention in Key West, Florida and 2019 convention in Captiva, Florida. She has also served as Treasurer for several COA conventions. Life Membership Chair Mimi Dill and Ed presented Jeannette with a beautiful framed certificate.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

Click Button to Return to Home Page

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting

Ocracoke NC

March 24-25, 2023

 

Friday, March 24: 67 people attended tonight’s meeting. The meeting started at 6:30 pm with Registration, refreshments (thank you to Diana Yeames for organizing our snacks and thank you to all who brought items to share), silent auction bidding, and club merchandise sales. Erin Burch expertly sounded the start of the meeting with her shell Helmet horn! President Mark Johnson opened the meeting with greetings and recognizing new members and visitors. Mark read our club’s mission statement that stated our club’s mission for fellowship, fun, and philanthropy. He thanked everyone for all of the hard work that keeps our club vibrant and fun.

Upcoming service from club members will include Vice-President Dan Minior giving a local television interview about our May Shell Show; the weekend of March 31, Cheryl Manger, Linda Gustafson, Dan Minior, and Mark Johnson will help out at the Oak Island Shell and Fossil Show; and April 21-22, members Dora Zimmerman, Diana Yeames, and Stephanie Howard will be giving a program about our club at the Harker’s Island Earth Day Celebration.

Mark asked that anyone who takes shelling or other nature trips to consider giving a program during a shell club meeting or contribute an article for our club newsletter. Vice-President Dan Minior informed the attendees about the special silent auction tonight and the oral auction for tomorrow night. Both auctions will feature wonderful shells from the collection of Everett Long. Everett was a shell club member from the mid-1990s until his unexpected death on April 26, 2022 after a short illness. He had served as Vice-President and President of our club and also served on the Conchologists of America Board of Directors as Member-at-Large and Vice-President. Everett was instrumental in our club hosting for the first time, the Annual Conchologists of America Convention in 2014 and was also involved in the plans for our club hosting the upcoming 2023 Convention to be held in Wilmington. Conchologists of America is the national club for shell enthusiasts. President Mark Johnson thanked John Timmerman for the production of our full color Oral Auction Catalog (featured on the club website) and many thanks to Dan Minior for the sorting and arranging of the shells featured in the auctions. Proceeds from the sale of Everett’s shells will help to fund the scholarships our club sponsors for college and graduate marine biology/environment science students. We currently sponsor scholarships at UNC-Wilmington and soon the club will set up scholarships at Community Colleges in the future. Our annual Shell Show will be held May 5-7, 2023 at the Civic Center in Morehead City, Co-Chaired by John Timmerman and Karlynn Morgan. Banquet information and cost ($45) is now located on the website. One of our scientific judges, Dr. Harry Lee, will be the banquet speaker. The shell show weekend is full of fun and activities, including scientific exhibits, artistic exhibits, huge NC Club sales table, NC Club Merchandise sales, specimen shell dealers, art dealers, fun activities for both adults and children and lots of time to talk with others who love to collect shells.

The upcoming Annual Conchologists of America convention will be hosted by our club. Co-Chairs Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller gave an update on the convention to be held in Wilmington May 31 to June 4 th, with field trips on May 29 and 30. One doesn’t have to be a COA member to register for the convention and field trips, but our club encourages you to consider joining COA (information on conchologistsofamerica.org). Field trips and other convention activities are open ONLY to those who register for the convention. The Shell Bourse Marketplace on June 3 and 4 is open to the public and unregistered guests. Mark thanked our longtime Newsletter Editor Ed Shuller for our amazing club newsletter.

Please send any articles to Ed for inclusion in future newsletters. Dan Minior and Mimi Dill have signed on as Co-Editors and have been working to digitize and archive our past and future newsletters. Mimi will also be distributing a member questionnaire to have a record of member profiles past and present. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan reported that many new members who joined during last year’s shell show renewed their memberships in our club. Our treasury is very healthy and the club will investigate plans to establish an endowment in the future to keep our club vibrant and active for years to come.

Saturday’s field trip to Portsmouth Island was cancelled due to the weather: high winds forecasted along with small craft advisories. While this is a disappointment, safety comes first and our Captain, Ocracoker Rudy Austin, knows what is best. In the many, many years that the club has come to Ocracoke, this is only the 2 nd time in recent memory that the field trip was cancelled. We will look forward to the trip in 2024. On the bright side, Dora Zimmerman gave a list of many activities available on Ocracoke for Saturday….local shopping, shelling and fossil collecting on Ocracoke, nature trails at Springer’s Point, the Lighthouse, British Cemetery, birding trails, the Pony Pen, and shuttle tours. The Village Craftsman shop is owned by shell club member and Ocracoke resident Amy Howard. Mark and Dan had meeting time to measure shells for potential new NC size records. The club keeps records of both dead collected and live collected shells of the many species found in NC.

A special surprise event tonight was the awarding of our club’s highest honor, Honorary Life Membership, to Ed Shuller. Since 1957, we have had only 18 people receive this honor. Ed’s nomination was unanimously approved by the Club Board of Directors and then approved by a unanimous vote by members present tonight. Mimi Dill developed a research rubric to help determine future members eligible for the Life Membership honor. Ed has been an active club member since September of 2000, participating in shell shows, serving as Vice-President and President of the club, newsletter editor, and serving as a co-chairman for two COA conventions hosted by our club. Jeannette Tysor spoke a few words about Ed, her friend and shelling buddy of 40 years, of his kindness and friendship to others. We are all very proud of you Ed! Congratulations for this great honor. Ed received a beautiful framed certificate.

Dinner tomorrow at 4:30 pm for anyone wanting to get together for a meal, at Plum Point Kitchen or Howard’s. Door prizes were then awarded to several lucky winners.

Next came story time for anyone who wanted to share a story with the group about Everett Long. There were many funny stories about how Everett loved to play practical jokes on friends, especially on shelling trips. The good thing though, is that once “gotten by Everett”, one was safe from future jokes. Most of us didn’t know that Everett was the victim of a practical joke until Mark told the story of how he fooled Everett when he, Everett and Harold Brown were shelling in West Florida. Mark called Everett on the phone from another room pretending to be a Florida Wildlife Officer. “Officer Mark” informed Everett that he was breaking the law by collecting shells. Mark really had Everett going and almost let him drive down to the police station but by then he and Harold were unable to stop their laughter. Dora also shared a story, sent by Everett’s wife Nancy, about how she and Everett met as young people in their twenties. After their initial introduction, it took only 2 weeks for Everett to know he was going to marry Nancy. They went on to have a marriage of 49 years, with two wonderful daughters and 4 grandchildren.

After the Everett stories, Dora introduced the group to one of our junior members, Elodie Minior. Elodie, with help from her mom, has been working very hard to handmake dozens of resin bookmarks with embedded tiny shells she collected, decorative grains of sand, and the COA/NC club logos for sale at our shell show and also as welcome gifts in the COA Convention registration bags. Each bookmark is unique. Dora presented Elodie with a check for all of her hard work for both the NC and COA organizations. Thank you Elodie!

 

Saturday, March 25: 71 people attended tonight’s meeting. The meeting started at 6:30 pm with social time, registration, club sales tables, and viewing of the Oral Auction shells and Finds of the Day. At 7 pm, President Mark Johnson welcomed everyone to this special evening. The club usually has only one Oral Auction a year, featured at our November meeting. But to commemorate the special connection between Everett Long and Ocracoke, tonight’s meeting will feature an Oral Auction of 75 shells from Everett’s collection. Our auctioneers for tonight will be John Timmerman, Nancy Timmerman, and Mark Johnson. There were many entries for “Find of the Day”. Dan Minior and Mark Johnson judged the entries and the Junior Winner was Aiden Minior for his fossil Apple Murex and the Adult winner was Susan O’Connor for her fossil Textilis Murex. Devil’s Shoal Road, near the Park Service Campground, has been surfaced the past couple of years with loads of fossil marl, which includes intact fossil shells originating from Florida.

The highlight of the night was the Oral Auction. Bidding was fast and furious and a good time was had by all. The total amount of money raised was $7502.00, which is a new NC Oral Auction record. The official total, including silent auction proceeds of $773.00 was $8275.00! Proceeds from our silent and oral auctions help to fund club activities and the scholarships we sponsor for college and graduate students of marine biology/environmental science.

Congratulations to Felicity Gage of Ocracoke for her new NC Size Record for a dead collected Scotch Bonnet! Her shell measured 91.35 mm, beating the previous record of 91.30 mm. The Scotch Bonnet (dead collected) size record has now been updated 3 times since 2022! Anyone with shells they would like considered for a possible new record can bring them to a shell club meeting, and time permitting, Mark Johnson and Dan Minior of the Records Committee will measure and validate any new record shells. The NC State Size Records for Shells is located on the club webpage. Records are kept for dead and live collected shells.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club Planning Meeting for 2023

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Jacksonville, NC

 

The planning meeting was held at the Kellum Baptist Church in Jacksonville, NC. In attendance: President Mark Johnson, Vice-President Dan Minior, 2 nd Vice-President Ed Shuller, Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, Secretary Vicky Wall, Member at Large Scott Foxx,

Former President Dora Zimmerman, Jeannette Tysor, Bill Bennight, Linda Jo Gustafson, Cheryl Manger, Mimi Dill, Diana Yeames, and Susan O’Connor.

At 10 am President Mark Johnson opened the meeting. After the meeting lunch will be at the Mongolian Restaurant for anyone who would like to meet there. It was one of Everett Long’s favorite restaurants. Following are the 2023 Club Committees (subject to change and will be published in the next newsletter by Editor Ed Shuller):

Shell Show Committees:

Karlynn provided the year’s Treasurer’s Report and Budget for 2023 (to be saved in minutes notebook). Any questions? Please email Karlynn Morgan or Vicky Wall. Highlights:

TOTAL INCOME 2022: $37481.43

TOTAL EXPENSES 2022: $39,677.47; NET LOSS OF $2,196.04 FOR A BANK BALANCE OF $39,363.70

The 2023 Club Membership Directory will be mailed soon (Mid-February).

Brady Semmel is storing shell show materials for the club but with the venue location now being Morehead City, we will check to see about getting those materials transferred to storage closer to Morehead City. Bill Bennight offered to share his storage locker for club supplies. Susan O’Connor is also storing club supplies in her personal storage locker. It was approved to pay her rent at the facility as long as she is storing club supplies. Linda Jo Gustafson will bring the shell show signs to the March meeting for storage. Property coordinators for these storage units are Mark Johnson, Dan Minior, Bill Bennight and Susan O’Connor. As the club uses up the various shell and shell item donations, we will be able to consolidate our storage areas.

Dan Minior is investigating investment opportunities for the club to grow the treasury and keeping the finances on solid ground. The initial investment has been the purchase of Everett’s collection. Other funds will be invested at a later date.

2023 Meeting Dates and Locations: (more details to follow in the newsletter for each meeting):

 

Additional field trips will be discussed throughout the year.

The club will continue to maintain liability insurance, as necessary, for our field trips and for the use of the Civic Center (shell show) at a cost of $500 per year.

Scholarship Fund: $2000 was donated to UNCW and $2000 was received for the Bosch Fund and will be dispersed at a later time. For the donations made in Everett’s memory, the idea of offering scholarships for science students at Carteret Community College was suggested. Dora Zimmerman motioned to donate from Everett’s Scholarship Fund to the Community College for science students. Mark Johnson seconded and the motion was approved.

The NC Shell Club sent a donation of $500 to help with the rebuilding efforts at the Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum, which was damaged during Hurricane Ian.

Mimi Dill volunteered to help Ed Shuller with the club newsletter. Articles and other information can be emailed to them and possible inclusion in the newsletter.

ONLY the President, Treasurer, Shell Show Chairman can sign Tax forms (only given for $100 or more).

New Business:

Co-Chairs Ed Shuller and Jeannette Tysor gave an update on the progress of convention preparations. So far, we have 37 club members volunteering in various aspects of running the convention! A big thank you to Dora Zimmerman for coordinating the volunteers. Convention information is posted on our club website as well as the COA website. The special hotel rate ends after April 29, 2003. Registration cost will increase on forms postmarked after April 15. In order to participate in Convention programs, field trips, dinners, and auctions, one must be registered for the convention.The Dealers’ Bourse on June 3 and 4 is open to the public.

President Mark Johnson adjourned the meeting with thank-yous to all who participated in this meeting.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting

November 11-12, 2022

Carolina Beach, NC

 

Friday, Nov. 11: 31 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration and social time started at 6:30 pm. President Mark Johnson opened the meeting at 7 pm, honoring all veterans, including many shell club members, on this Veteran’s Day. Thank you to Diana Yeames for organizing refreshments for this weekend and to all who donated to the refreshments. Oral auction items were set out for preview, as were many items for tonight’s silent auction. Hurricane Nicole looked to be an early threat to the weekend but the storm track took the storm further west in the state. Mark thanked Linda Jo Gustafson and Cheryl Manger for securing our new venue in Carolina Beach, the Katie B. Hines Senior Center; John Timmerman for producing our full color online auction catalog and for being our auctioneer (along with Nancy); Ed Shuller for being editor of our awesome newsletter; Scott Foxx for securing wonderful speakers this past year; Bill Bennight and Susan O’Connor for their work with our silent auctions; and thanks to everyone who donated items for the silent and oral auctions. Dinner for anyone interested, on Saturday night, will be at 4 pm at Michael’s Seafood in Carolina Beach. Mark also announced that the club made a $500 donation to help with the recovery efforts at the Bailey Mathews National Shell Museum, which sustained damage during Hurricane Ian. Scott Foxx introduced tonight’s speaker, John Reaves. John gave a program that was also the topic of his recent shell show exhibit, about the brave aquanauts of the 1960s Sealab Program. His father participated as one of the aquanauts. These divers and fellow researchers were participants in the unknown territory of saturation diving. Saturation diving is the process of acclimating the body to lower levels of oxygen while increasing the breathing levels of inert gases such as helium. Using this process, the divers can dive and work for longer periods of time at extreme depths. Living on the sea bottom in the Sealab structure also allowed the divers to avoid having to endure long decompression times used in regular scuba diving. The divers lived in the Sealab structure for several weeks at a stretch at a depth of 600 feet (recreational diving depth limit is 130 feet), braving cold water temperature and poor visibility. There were three different Sealab habitats developed by the US Navy, I, II, and III. These habitats measured 40’ x 10’ up to 57’ x 12’. Sealab I was situated at 192 feet; Sealab II at 205 feet; and Sealab III at 600 feet. Sealab I is on display in Panama City, Florida. Along with his research diving duties, John’s father was also a mission photographer. Another crew member was Toughy the Dolphin. The divers worked at training Toughy to ferry materials from Sealab to the supply ship and also to work among the divers. Dr. George Bond, from Bat Cave, NC, was a pioneer in the development of saturation diving. The Sealab program was not continued after Sealab III due to lack of funding (during the Vietnam War) and the shocking death of Barry Cannon in a diving accident. Today, saturation divers work at depths exceeding 800’ in the oil rig business. Please read more about Sealab: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEALAB

Business : Due to time restraints, the minutes from the September meeting were not presented. Members can read them on the club webpage. Also, the Treasurer’s Report was not presented tonight. Beginning balance this month was $31,901.20. Income totaled $2330.51 for a subtotal of $33, 901.20. Expenses totaled $4333.10 (mainly merchandise purchased for future sales and shell show expenses) and a final balance of $29,568.10. Funds will be recouped through membership dues and income from merchandise sales. First Vice-President Dan Minior announced tomorrow’s plans: social time will start earlier at 6 pm to allow more time for the Oral Auction. Proceeds from this auction support our scholarships, shell show, and other club activities. The March 24-25, 2023 meeting will be in Ocracoke, with a field trip, weather permitting, to Portsmouth Island. The Ocracoke meeting will also be a time for us to remember Everett Long. Bring your Everett stories and share them with the group! There will also be a special oral auction featuring shells from Everett’s extensive collection. Our annual Shell Show will be May 5-7, 2023 in Morehead City. The rules packet will be available online in January. The NC Shell Club will be hosting the annual convention of the Conchologists of America. We hosted this convention back in 2014 and it was a huge success. The 2023 convention will be held once again in Wilmington, NC May 29-June 4. Check the COA website at http://www.conchologistsofamerica.org for more information and registration forms. Ed Shuller and Jeannette Tysor, Co-Chairs for the 2014 convention are chairing again for our 2023 convention. The success of the convention depends on everyone helping out. Please contact Dora Zimmerman for volunteer opportunities. This convention is a great opportunity to meet fellow shell collectors from around the US and from many other countries. Each day will feature educational programs, club merchandise tables from our club and others in the US, a Welcome Party, Banquet, dinner cruise, several silent auctions, an oral auction, and the world-famous bourse: a huge ballroom filled with shell dealers from around the world.

Door prizes concluded tonight’s meeting.

Saturday, Nov. 12: This morning at 10 am, Stephanie Howard held a shell craft workshop. Several members attended and enjoyed learning how to craft shell flowers. 38 people attended tonight’s meeting. Nancy Timmerman served as judge for the craft flowers and the winner for best craft flower was Susan Gentry. She received her prize of a beautiful Chambered Nautilus shell. This year’s Oral Auction was one of our largest. Thank you to John and Nancy Timmerman for once again being our awesome auctioneers! There were many exciting bidding wars, but the two outstanding items were Everett Long’s club license vanity plate #001 with a winning bid of $550 and a beautiful lamp filled with specimen quality scotch bonnets made and donated by Harold Brown, that had a winning bid of $375! Thank you to all who donated items and for your purchases. Auction totals: silent auction $228.00; oral auction $ 5,816.00, which could be a new record!

Happy Holidays and we hope to see everyone in March 2023.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club Fall Meeting

September 23-23, 2022

Cedar Point, NC

 

Friday, Sept. 23: 50 people were in attendance. This weekend’s meetings were held at the Western Park Community Center in Cedar Point, NC. Registration and social time started at 6:30 pm, with refreshments and time to bid on silent auction items. President Mark Johnson opened the meeting at 7 pm, welcoming all to our Fall Meeting. Mark assumed the President’s position after the unexpected death of Everett Long on April 26. Dan Minior assumed the 1 st Vice-President position and Ed Shuller accepted the office of 2 nd Vice-President. Mark informed everyone of the challenges the club has faced following Everett’s death. Mark said Everett would have been very proud of the club and how everyone has pulled together to continue the good work our club has become known for. Mark thanked everyone for a very successful membership drive, resulting in 70 people joining the club (I have included couples separately in the number) at the Shell Show! He reminded everyone that we are not just a shell club but also a shell family. Vice-President Dan Minior had announcements: The field trip to Shackleford Banks will have two boats leaving from the National Park Service docks at Harker’s Island. The 9 am boat will travel to the Pony Pen area. The 9:30 am boat will travel to the Wade’s Shores area. There are still some open seats on both boats. Make sure to sign a waiver form for the trip. There are no facilities on the island so bring water, snacks, hat, sunscreen. Also be reminded to give a wide berth to the wild Banker ponies on the island and if possible, bringing back trash is much appreciated by the Park Service. Saturday dinner at 4:45 at Jordan’s Restaurant in Swansboro for anyone who would like to come. Scott Foxx introduced tonight’s speaker, new club member Ben Wunderly, from Morehead City. Ben has worked with local museums and also the Park Service at Bear Island/Hammocks Beach State Park. He is currently the collector and owner of the NC size record for a dead collected Scotch Bonnet, at 91.25 mm! He is going to donate his shell to the Visitors’ Center at Hammock’s Beach State Park. Ben gave a very interesting program about the Whaling history of Shackleford Banks. This area is now part of the National Seashore but once had a community of 500 people in 1880, called Diamond City. Whaling activity occurred from 1660 to 1920, with an average of 4 whales, usually right whales, killed each year. By 1902, people no longer lived on Shackleford, with many moving to the Morehead City area. The last whale killed on Shackleford was 57 feet long. This whale’s skeleton was preserved and is on display at the NC Museum of Natural History in Raleigh. Another whale skeleton from Shackleford is on display in a museum in Iowa. After Ben’s program, door prizes were awarded by John and Jan Reeves. The shell prizes were donated from the collection of Mique Pinkerton. Dan made some final announcements: he reminded everyone about our upcoming Shell Show at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, May 5-7, 2023. The annual Conchologists of America Convention will be hosted by our club this year, in Wilmington, May 30-June 4, with optional field trips on May 28 and 29. The convention will include programs, field trips, the opportunity to meet shellers from all over the US and the world, several silent auctions, Oral Auction, club sales tables, and the Famous Dealers’ Bourse with tables and tables of shells and other shell items for sale situated in a 3000 square foot ballroom. The Convention Logo was designed by John Timmerman. The NC Shell Club first hosted a COA Convention in Wilmington in 2014. That convention really “put us on the map” and gave new visibility for us to other shell clubs and COA. Since that convention, our club has helped in many ways in other COA conventions and we have the well-deserved reputation as the club to ask when help is needed. For the 2023 Convention, volunteers are needed for the various activities during the week. Please see Dora Zimmerman as she is our Volunteer Coordinator. More information about the convention, including hotel information and registration forms, can be found on the COA website conchologistsofamerica.org. We hope that many NC Shell Club members can attend the convention. Dan also explained what the COA Neptunea Award represented. This award honors COA members (not currently on the COA Board of Directors) who contribute their talents to conchology and malacology and is one of the highest honors in COA. At this past convention, Everett Long was honored posthumously with the Neptunea Award for his many contributions to the shelling community and service to COA. His award was accepted on his behalf by Jeannette Tysor. The North Carolina Shell Club has several other members who have been awarded the Neptunea Award: John Timmerman (NC), Ed Shuller (NC), Jeannette Tysor (NC), Doug Wolfe (NC), Jim & Linda Brunner (FL), Anne Joffe (FL), and Alan Gettleman (FL).

Bill Bennight had handouts about Shell Collecting Etiquette and a decorative form signed by President Mark Johnson for any shell club member certifying their attendance at club meetings! Our next meeting will be in Carolina Beach, November 11-12, 2022. It will feature 2 silent auctions and our much-anticipated Annual Oral Auction. A catalog of the auction shells and items from John Timmerman, will be forthcoming on our club website. On Saturday of that meeting Stephanie Howard has volunteered to conduct a shell craft workshop on how to make shell flowers. Bring your glue gun and glue sticks if you plan to attend. Our club purchased Everett Long’s world-class shell collection from his family. His wonderful shells will be featured in future silent and oral auctions.

 

Saturday, Sept. 24: 37 people were in attendance. President Mark Johnson opened the meeting at 7 pm. Brady Semmel brought many shells he found on Shackleford Banks for anyone who would like them. Scott Foxx introduced tonight’s speaker, Vicky Wall. Vicky gave a program titled “Shell Photography for Beginners”. She showed photographs of live mollusks, explaining her various methods for taking the photos, including on surfaces, underwater, and in small aquariums assembled during shelling trips. The Find of the Day was judged by Jeannette Tysor, Ed Shuller, and Harold Brown. There were many wonderful shells found on Shackleford, but the winner was a live collected Florida Fighting Conch, Strombus alatus, with an amazing dark red/brown aperture, found by John Timmerman. John was awarded a shell club merchandise gift certificate. Door prizes were awarded by John and Jan Reeves. Karlynn Morgan gave the Treasurer’s Report. Highlights: Donations to the Everett Long Memorial Scholarship fund stand at $5785. Total income from January 1 to September 22, 2022 was $63,531.62. After expenses, our total is $31,570.69. The Shell Show brought in $14,268.26, with expenses of $11,813.04 during 2022 but after subtracting 2021 expenses incurred for the show, there was, $654.45 in loss, which is amazing for a shell show, especially with a new date and venue and overall, l that does not pose that large a problem. Shell show income comes from admissions, trophy sponsors, dealers’ tables, club table sales, banquet tickets and misc. donations. Major expenses are for the Banquet and Show venue.

Future Meetings in 2023:

 

Vice-President Dan Minior concluded the meeting thanking various members for their help with this weekend’s meetings: Scott Foxx for Speakers, Diana Yeames for our Refreshments, Dora Zimmerman, Amry and Robert Cox Field Trip, Jan and John Reeves Door Prizes, Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor and Harold Brown Find of the Day Judges, Susan O’Connor and Bill Bennight silent auctions, Karlynn Morgan and Vicky Wall Registration Table, Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller club sales tables, and our President Mark Johnson for guiding us through the challenges and emotional times since last spring.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

```````````````````````````````````````````````

 

North Carolina Shell Show, May 6-8, 2022

Crystal Coast Civic Center,

Morehead City, NC

It has been 3 years since our last shell show in 2019, in Wilmington, NC and a tough time trying to get back on track. In 2018 our shell show was canceled due to Hurricane Florence. The 2019 show, held at the Convention Center in Wilmington, was a huge success even with the uncertainty of being in a new venue. The 2020 show was canceled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. We were ready to go for 2021 but the Convention Center canceled all events at the time due to construction issues and delays posed by the pandemic. Due to future uncertainty in Wilmington and the continued hurricane risks for the fall, the Board of Directors and Shell Show Committee decided to search for a new venue and a May weekend date for the show. Thankfully the search led us to the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City and a May 6-8 weekend. This turned out to be a huge success. The civic center provided a large exhibit space (with options of more space if needed), full-service kitchen, large entrance foyer, great staff to help us with logistics and exhibit table set up with table skirts, easy in and out for exhibitors and club workers, lots of free parking, beautiful campus, and only a few minutes’ drive to the Hampton Inn, which gave shell show participants a special show room rate. The reception from exhibitors and the public was so positive, we have decided to make the Civic Center our new shell show home for the foreseeable future. Our 2023 Shell Show will be May 5-7, 2023. Moving a shell show to a new venue and date is a daunting prospect but due to the hard work of Dora Zimmerman and her advertising committee, the word got out and the public responded. Attendance was over 900 people (825 from the public plus club members and exhibitors). The show had 298 feet of scientific exhibits and 41 feet of artistic exhibits. To compare, in 2019 we had 252 feet and 30 feet respectively. Several exhibitors from this show and others who could not come this year have already expressed interest in the 2023 show. This new venue will allow for that growth. Also featured at the show were many activities for adults and children including: shell give-away table, Ask the Experts, scavenger hunt with shell prizes, people’s choice voting, color a shell picture, make a shell necklace, Boy and Girl Scouts tables, and shells and other items for sale from our Dealers Erika Young, Rich Goldberg, Phil Dietz/Sue Hobbs, and Brian Hayes. Many club members worked very hard the past few years sorting and labeling hundreds of shells and other items to sell at our club tables. Proceeds from these sales fund the scholarships we sponsor for marine biology students at UNC-Wilmington. Total sales were an amazing $4828. Our club merchandise sales brought in $2373. This total included $470 in old and new raffle ticket sales, 52 club memberships (30 individual and 20 family, including a re-join of club member, 89 year old Eloise Walton), merchandise sales and kitchen donations. Admissions brought in $2549. These moneys help to pay for the cost of holding a shell show. Be sure to check for shell show photos in future issues of American Conchologist Magazine, the NC Shell Club Newsletter, North Carolina Shell Club Facebook page, and our webpage at ncshellclub.com. With the unexpected death of long-time club member and our President, Everett Long, on April 26 th, the shell show weekend was a tough moment for all of us. Everett would have been so proud of how everyone pulled together to make the weekend a huge success.

Following are the Trophy and Ribbon winners:

Shell Show Banquet, May 7, 2022

 

66 people attended tonight’s banquet for our 44 th Shell Show. President Mark Johnson welcomed everyone to the banquet. He then brought attention to the front of the banquet room to the empty “Missing Man” table for our President Everett Long, who unexpectedly died on April 26, 2022 after a brief illness. Many shell club members attended Everett’s memorial service earlier this week on Tuesday. On Everett’s table was a Marine Corps coffee tumbler, his favorite M & M candy, and a scotch bonnet. Everett was a much loved and admired long-time member of the North Carolina Shell Club, serving as President a second term and also serving as Vice-President of the Conchologists of America. He would have been very proud of this shell show weekend and everyone who helped to make it happen. Mark recognized our Scientific Judges Dr. José Leal and Mr. Brian Hayes, our Artistic Judge Ms. Kimberly Nealon, and our shell dealers Rich Goldberg, Brian Hayes, Phil Dietz and Erika Young. Also recognized were Shell Show Co-Chairmen John Timmerman and Karlynn Morgan; Facility Co-Chairmen Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller; and Advertising Chairman Dora Zimmerman. A big thank you was extended to Diana Yeames and Jeannette Tysor for organizing the food and meals in the kitchen for exhibitors, club members and dealers to enjoy. Thank you to all who provided food and drinks. Dora presented Diana and Jeannette with beautiful tulip plants for their hard work. Mark remembered Everett Long, pointing out that we are not only a wonderful shell club but we are a shell family as we mourn the loss of Everett. He was a true leader in all that he did. He kept us laughing, told wonderful stories, played pranks on some of us, loved the fellowship at meetings, grew our membership, spearheaded the establishment of the scholarships we sponsor at UNC-Wilmington, and through his leadership during our first COA Convention in 2014 and in several other COA conventions, our club gained much respect in the shell world. Many people have commented over the years if you want to get things done and done right, contact Everett Long and the North Carolina Shell Club mafia!

Tonight’s program was given by Dr. José Leal, Science Director and Curator of the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum. He gave a talk about the science and research occurring at the museum. Currently the museum has 133,010 shell lots. Some of the research involves several salt water aquariums, one featuring live junonia volutes. Through the aquarium research and observations of the junonias, it was discovered that these volute snails kill other snails (lettered olives are a favorite prey) by stabbing them with their proboscis. Studies are underway to determine if a toxin or poison is involved. His final slide honored Everett, with a photo of him from a past meeting at Ocracoke. Everett was holding a jar of “Everett’s Olives” (the shell kind, in a Mount Olive brand olive jar).

After the program, one of our current scholarship recipients at UNC-Wilmington, Robert Finn, said a few words thanking our club for the opportunity to receive a scholarship to help him with his work in Invertebrate Zoology. Jeannette Tysor presented Dora Zimmerman with a bouquet of flowers to represent her Best Novice Trophy, which will be sent to her soon. Our annual raffle prizes were presented to end the evening. Thank you to all who purchased raffle tickets. Irmgard and Don Cate won the embroidered jacket donated by Peter Brimlow. Vickie Owens won the Acteon eloiseae earrings and necklace set donated by Mique Pinkerton.

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club Meeting

March 18-19, 2022

Ocracoke, NC Community Center

 

Friday March 18: 61 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration and social time started at 6:30 pm, with refreshments, silent auction bidding, and club merchandise sales. President Everett Long opened the meeting at 7 pm. It has been 2 ½ years since Hurricane Dorian devastated Ocracoke and its 900+ residents in September 2019. A storm surge of 7 feet flooded the island from both the ocean and sound sides. 88 of 105 businesses were damaged, along with hundreds of vehicles, countless homes, buildings, 3 miles of route 12, the Ocracoke school and library. These were the worst flood waters since the storm of 1944. It is so nice to be back in Ocracoke, having our meetings at the Community Center. Everett introduced some special guests, Ocracoke Librarian Sundae Horn and 3 of her students: Chloe, Lea and Xander. The flood ruined much of the library building and books, especially the children’s section. Sundae thanked the club for our $500 cash donation plus $3000 worth of books for the library. The children showed us some of their new books, each stamped on the inside cover with our club scotch bonnet logo. The children also passed out wonderful thank you notes they made themselves. Rudy Austin will take club members to Portsmouth Island Saturday morning, beginning at 8 am. The earlier time and noon return time are necessary due to gale force winds forecast for the afternoon. First Vice-President Dan Minior introduced John and Jan Reaves for door prizes. Everett relayed that long time shell dealer and club supporter Donald Dan has had recent health issues, keeping him close to home in Florida. We hope he will be able to attend the May shell show as an honorary judge and guest. In January, Dan Minior, Mark Johnson, and Everett spoke with officials from UNC-Wilmington to review the details of the scholarships we sponsor for marine biology students. Along with the club donation, members can also donate to the scholarship fund. Our first scholarship winner, Madison Lytle, is now a PhD candidate and club member. Member At Large Scott Foxx introduced our speaker, Ruth Fordon. Ruth is a volunteer with the National Park Service’s sea turtle conservation program. She has been involved with sea turtle conservation since 2004. She brought many turtle related specimens for viewing. The volunteers monitor nests and hatchlings, in many instances helping the hatchlings reach the ocean safely. Female sea turtles return to nest to the beaches where they were born. First nests are usually after reaching 20 years of age at sea. Ruth also brought a basket of scotch bonnets for gifts. We gave her a gift of a club sweatshirt. During the break, 2 nd Vice-President Mark Johnson passed out release forms for the Portsmouth trip. Everett pointed out free issues of American Conchologist Magazine. Conchologists of America is the national shell collecting organization. Our club gifted COA memberships to scholarship winners Madison Lytle and Robert Finn. Dan Minior informed the club that the Finance Committee of Mark Johnson, Dan Minior, and Karlynn Morgan have investigated setting up an investment account for the club, starting with $10,000, to help grow our funds. Currently our treasury stands at $36,241. Our main spending is for the Annual Shell Show and Scholarship Program. Oak Island is going to have a shell/fossil show on April 10 th. Mark Johnson, Bill Bennight, and Dominique M. Joos de ter Beerst have volunteered to help judge the exhibits. The Museum at Ocean Isle asked if any club members could give lectures at the museum during the summer. Valerie Blanchard and Gail Hughes volunteered to participate. Everett will give a talk to the Morehead City Rotary Club to inform them about our club, our outreach to the community, and our May shell show to be held for the first time in Morehead City. For the shell show, Dora Zimmerman has been working very hard on advertising, contacting magazine and other outlets. Vicky Wall and Karlynn Morgan distributed rack cards to the winter shell shows. Maria Lloyd has been working on social media information outlets. Our club rents a storage locker near Everett’s home, for all the shells and club material donated to us the past few years. The volume become too much for members’ homes. Diana Yeames offered to store several boxes of shell show materials. Everett asked for volunteers to help bring boxes to the shell show. Everett Long announced there would be no Treasurer's report as only a few checks had been written since the business meeting in January. Our checking account balance is $36,221.00. Secretary Vicky Wall read two thank you notes, one from UNC-W and the other from our Queen, Mary Louise Spain, thanking the club for all the birthday cards sent to her for her 100 th Birthday this past fall. To save on time tonight, the minutes from November 2021 and the January 2022 planning meeting were not read but are available on the club webpage. The Membership Committee of Linda Gustafson, Cheryl Manger, Bill Bennight, Mark Johnson, and Jeannette Tysor will be welcoming new members with email contacts and a welcome certificate. The meeting was concluded with door prizes and final silent auction bidding.

Saturday, March 19: 49 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration and social time started at 6:30 pm, with Everett welcoming new members. Mark Johnson and Dan Minior were on hand to measure shells for potential entry to our list of Record Size Shells found in North Carolina. The list is posted on the club website. If anyone wants to have a shell measured, please contact Mark and Dan for an appointment outside of the meeting time. Records are noted for both dead and live collected specimens. Tonight we added two new records: Tammy Zetka found her record Scotch Bonnet on the Portsmouth trip. Ann Sommers found her record Spiny Oyster when diving on a wreck offshore Ocracoke. Ann is a long-time SCUBA diver and collects only dead shells. When diving, she makes notes of the live mollusks she finds and then monitors their life span, collecting the shells after the mollusks have died. She is working with Doug Wolfe on an article about her observations, for American Conchologist Magazine. John Reaves judged the Finds of the Day. The Junior winner was Julia Pemberton, for her scotch bonnet with extra varice. The Adult winner was Tammy Zetka for her Calliostomaeuglyptum top shell. 33 members attended the Portsmouth field trip, another record for the club! Erin Burch donated to the club agricultural produce bags to be repurposed as shell collecting bags. Everett asked that he be notified of members who are ill or hospitalized so we can send them a card to let them know we are thinking of them. Tonight we signed a card for member Lynn Moore who has recently been ill. Dora Zimmerman recognized junior member Elodie Minior for her beautiful handmade resin and shell decorated bookmarks. They will be available for purchase at the shell show. Elodie is also making bookmarks to be included in the Welcome Bags for the 2023 Conchologists of America Convention, hosted by our club, in Wilmington. Elodie has made 180 bookmarks so far! A big thank you to Diana Yeames for overseeing refreshments for our meetings. She announced for future meetings that homemade items would again be welcomed, starting with our September meeting. Susan O’Connor modeled a jacket she had embroidered with our club logo. This is not a club merchandise item. A friend of Susan’s does the embroidery. Contact Susan if you would like a jacket (you provide the jacket) embroidered with the club logo, cost $75. Dan Minior introduced tonight’s speaker, Ed Shuller. Ed is our newsletter editor and with Jeannette Tysor, a 2020 COA Neptunea Award recipient. Ed informed the club of a project to revise Hugh Porter’s book Seashells of North Carolina. Hugh was a long time member and officer of the club. He died in 2014. This book is a helpful identification guide to shells found in NC, first published in the 1990s by NC Sea Grant. While there have been several reprintings, there have not been revisions or corrections to the content. This project will update scientific names, add common names, add new species, add 10 color photographs, and rearrange the book in taxonomic order in accordance with other scientific identification shell books. People working on this project include Art Bogan from the Natural History Museum in Raleigh, Ed Shuller, and Doug Wolfe. Other club members will be asked to help. The timeline is for the updates to be finished by July 2022, with new books published in 2023. The meeting was concluded with door prizes and final silent auction bidding. The silent auction items this weekend were donated by 101 year old club member Mique Pinkerton. Thank you to all who bid. The silent auction total was $821. Our next meeting will the annual Shell Show in Morehead City, NC May 6-8, 2022.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club

2022 Planning Meeting January 29, 2022

Cedar Point, NC

Business Meeting: 20 members attended the planning meeting: Everett Long, John McKnight, Dan Minior, Mark Johnson, Karlynn Morgan, Vicky Wall, Scott Foxx, Jeannette Tysor, Ed Shuller, Dora Zimmerman, Linda Gustafson, Cheryl Manger, Diana Yeames, Vickie Lennon, Bill Bennight, Robert Cox, Amry Cox, Stephanie Howard, Maria Lloyd and Dominic Joos de ter Beerst. President Everett Long opened the meeting. He gave updates on our oldest members. Mique Pinkerton is 101 years old, Mary Louise Spain is 100 years old, and Dean Weber 98 years old. Karlynn Morgan gave her Treasurer’s Report for 2021. The balance stands at $37,690.86. The scholarship fund has a balance of $4218.63. Our 2022 Scholarship recipient Robert Finn will hopefully be able to attend the Shell Show in May. The Bosch Family donated an additional $1000 to the fund. Our club sponsors a scholarship at UNC-W for students studying in the Marine Sciences/Malacology fields. The insurance policy for club activities was updated. Thank you to Everett Long and Jeannette Tysor for their work on this. Our previous policy cost $1000 for one million dollars of coverage. Our new policy costs $500 for three million dollars of coverage and also includes the required rider for the shell show at the Civic Center. Everett recognized Scott Foxx for his work on organizing many shell books to be sold at our club bourse table at the 2023 Conchologists of America Convention to be hosted by our club, in Wilmington, NC. Everett also thanked Scott for his donation of a beautiful wooden box to hold the President’s gavel. VP John McKnight presented his updates and revisions for our Club Constitution. Diana Yeames made a motion to accept the revisions; Bill Bennight seconded the motion. Unanimous vote yes to accept. The revised Constitution is located on the club webpage, on the Club History page. Vice-President John McKnight presented his resignation to President Everett Long earlier this year. The Nominating Committee members Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, and Steven Boldy presented Dr. Dan Minior as First Vice-President and Mark Johnson as Second Vice-President. Both were approved unanimously. Everett would like to get more members involved in club activities as many experienced members are aging and others have moved away. Dan will head up the March 2022 meeting and Mark will head up the September 2022 meeting. At the May Shell Show Banquet, only the national award winners (Conchologists of America, DuPont, and Master’s Awards) and People’s Choice winners will be announced. All other trophy and ribbon winners will be recognized in the Newsletter and on the Webpage. Everett said he would take care of the airplane tickets for two of the judges. Our other judge will be driving to NC. The club will also be extending an invitation to long time shell dealer and supporter of our club, Donald Dan, to be an Honorary Judge. If he can accept our invitation, the club will pay his airfare and Everett will pay for his hotel costs. Secretary Vicky Wall will send him the invitation in the mail. Everett will call Donald to discuss the details. Concerning the investments of the club, Everett, Dan, and Mark will speak with officials at UNC-Wilmington soon to discuss the scholarship and make sure the university officials understand that the scholarship is to be awarded to up to two undergraduate or graduate students studying in the fields of Marine Science or Malacology, no other disciplines. The club can also explore other options that could benefit from monetary support, such as conservation, trash cleanups at the coast, or museums. The Investments Committee composed of members Karlynn Morgan, Dan Minior, Brady Semmel, Scott Foxx, and Mark Johnson, have been working on investment strategies to help grow the club’s treasury so we will have ample funds for our Annual Shell Show and donations. The committee will investigate hiring a money manager to invest possibly $3000 to $10,000 in various investments that would most benefit the club. A decision will be made at the March meeting. Karlynn suggested that Dan Minior be Chairman of the Investments Committee and she would continue to be a member of the committee. Dan accepted the assignment. This year the Conchologists of America is having a membership drive to encourage more interest in the organization and conchology. Our club has two free memberships that we can award to young people. Everett suggested offering one membership to our scholarship winner Robert Finn, which was approved. The second free COA membership is still available to an interested young person. To plan for the future and make sure there is a member available to access our club funds at BB & T in Swansboro, the signature card was updated on January 28, 2022 to include Karlynn Morgan, Jeannette Tysor, Everett Long, and Vicky Wall. Ed Shuller discussed the proposed updates to the shell book featuring North Carolina mollusks, authored by shell club member, the late Dr. Hugh Porter. This book was initially published in the 1970s, and most recently updated in 1995. Dr. Art Bogan, from the Natural History Museum in Raleigh, and Ed have discussed updating the book. NC Sea Grant and UNC Chapel Hill Press have agreed to this project. Other members working on this project include Dr. Doug Wolfe and John Timmerman. The reversed cover photograph will be corrected, taxonomic updates will be made for scientific names, common names will be updated, and 10 new color photographs will be added (taken by John Timmerman). We are also hoping to convince NC Sea Grant to accept putting the species in proper taxonomic order. More information will be forthcoming at the March meeting. The Conchologists of America organization holds a convention each year to promote interest in shells and fellowship. This year’s convention will be held in Galveston, Texas May 31- June 4, 2022. These conventions include field trips, informational programs given by both professionals and amateurs, silent and oral auctions, and a Dealers’ Bourse. Our club hosted the 2014 convention, in Wilmington, NC. The NC Shell Club will host another convention, in 2023, again in Wilmington. Convention Co-Chairs Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller presented introductory information of the work done thus far. The dates for the convention will be May 31 – June 4, 2023 with field trips on May 29 and 30. The theme will be Carolina Moon, with the convention logo featuring a moon snail. Initial work has been made on the information tri-fold, potential field trips, programs, and convention logo. The Welcome Party’s theme will be “I Love Beach Music” and “Beach/Shag dancing Attire”. Each field trip day will include two day trips and one evening boat cruise with dinner. More information will be coming soon, at our club meetings and also at the 2022 Convention in Texas. Jeannette stressed that much work needs to be done and there are many opportunities for members to participate in putting on the 2023 convention. Karlynn gave an update on the club’s Facebook page. The page has over 7000 members, but many are not shell collectors, having interests in sea glass, echinoderms and other beach life. A decision was made to keep the current format, as it does get our club’s message out to many people. Absolutely no selling of merchandise is allowed on our page. Karlynn is also our club webmaster. She asked that the club investigate additional website management for our page. Everett will be contacting a computer technician to help those of us who need to send out group emails to the club membership. We currently spend $125 a year to maintain our domain name. A member suggested by letter that the club consider doing in-person meetings also on Zoom, with the offer of paying for the service. The decision was made that in certain circumstances Zoom meetings (free format) can be used for committee meetings, planning meetings in the event of bad weather or situations like Covid, but not for our 3 regular meetings during the year. Linda Gustafson brought up the topic of how the club will handle Covid regulations in the future. Should Covid continue to be an issue this coming year, we will follow CDC recommendations and also provide masks and hand sanitizer at meetings and the shell show. Refreshments will be safely packaged for distribution at meetings.

2022 Meetings: More information and meeting confirmation will be in upcoming newsletters. Some plans are confirmed, others preliminary:

March 18-19, 2022: Ocracoke Meeting (Confirmed)

May 6-8, 2022: Annual Shell Show, Morehead City (Confirmed)

September 23-24, 2022: Cedar Point Meeting(tentative)

November 11-12, 2022: Oral Auction Meeting, Carolina Beach (tentative)

June 18, 2022: Club Yard Sale (tentative).

This is a new idea proposed by Everett:

Club members can bring items of their own to sell (shell related or not). This event will be open to club members and the public, in an effort to sell some of the larger club table items in our storage unit and thin out some of our inventory. Possibly a cookout too. Diana Yeames, Amry Cox and Maria Lloyd formed a committee to work on this event.

 

Dora Zimmerman, chair of the Shell Show Advertising Committee, presented the rack cards and flyers that will be distributed to help get the word out about our shell show. Karlynn and Vicky will be taking some rack cards to distribute at Florida shell shows in January, February, and March. The flyers will be distributed to various businesses in the Morehead City area. Dora also secured contracts with the Crystal Coast Visitor’s Guide (an online magazine), the Island Review (printed magazine), and the Coaster (online). Emails will also be sent, along with mobile phone alerts closer to the date of the show. We also have our show information on Conch-L listserv, Conchologists of America website, our club website, and on Facebook (our club FB page and also other shell club pages).

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club
Winter Meeting: November 5-6, 2021

Mulberry Park Community Building, Shallotte, NC

 

Friday Nov. 5: 43 people attended tonight’s meeting (38 members and 5 guests). Registration started at 6 pm with the silent auction and oral auction previews of many wonderful shells and shell books. Jeannette Tysor was in charge of the club sales table with many items available for sale including club sweatshirts, t-shirts, journals, pins, and new iron-on embroidered patches provided by Everett Long. These patches feature our club shell, the Scotch Bonnet, and the label North Carolina Shell Club. At our last shell show in 2019, similar patches were awarded to the Boy and Girl Scouts who participated in shell show activities. Their merit patches are labeled North Carolina Shell Club. President Dora Zimmerman opened the meeting at 7 pm. She showed the new gavel and base donated by the Morgan Family of South Carolina. Everett Long had the gavel and base engraved to recognize the donation and our club. Dora pointed out a poster with photos taken by Everett and Nancy Long, showing the many boxes of shells that have been donated to our club over the past few years. The sale of these donated shells and other items help to fund club activities such as the Annual Shell Show and Scholarships at UNC-Wilmington for Marine Biology students.

The financial audit for the past two years was completed Friday afternoon by Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, President Dora Zimmerman and Jeannette Tysor. All was in order.

Business Meeting: Secretary Vicky Wall read the minutes from the September meeting. Minutes were approved. Outgoing President, Dora Zimmerman, thanked the following members for their help the past 3 years: Everett Long, for organizing workshops to help sort and identify the donations for our silent and oral auctions, and shells used during our shell show and also monitoring the storage locker we rent to house all of these collections; Jeannette Tysor, for being responsible for our club sales items, and tireless efforts to secure our shell show banquet and new shell show venue; All the club members who attended and supported last summer’s Conchologists of America Convention held in Melbourne, Florida; Linda Gustafson and Cheryl Manger for their efforts to secure tonight’s meeting place; Ed Shuller, our newsletter Editor; Susan O’Connor and Bill Bennight for organizing the silent auctions; John Timmerman, for his work on the annual shell shows and auction catalogs; and Diana Yeames, for providing refreshments for our meetings. Dora then presented gifts to Vice-President Linda Gustafson, Secretary Vicky Wall, Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, and Shell Show Chairman John Timmerman. Everett Long informed the club about friends of our club from Hawaii, Dave and Jody Watts. For the past 8 years they have donated shells to our club for use in our auctions. This year their donation included a collection of 78 different species of self-collected Hawaiian shells for our Oral Auction. Everett proposed inviting them to become Honorary Members of the North Carolina Shell Club. Bill Bennight made the motion and Karlynn Morgan seconded the motion. A unanimous “yes” club vote secured the proposal. Everett said he would call Dave and Jody during the weekend to let them know how much we appreciate them and of their new membership. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan presented the Treasurer’s Report. Our balance stands at $33,459.80. Karlynn also mentioned that member Amy Dick has had several surgeries the past year and a half and is slowly feeling better. Amy wanted to thank the club for the orchid plant we sent to her. Karlynn and Mark Johnson then gave a special presentation to the club. They talked about a shelling friend to many of us, Charlotte Thorpe, from Jacksonville, Florida. Charlotte is 80 years old. Sadly, she is battling dementia. Her husband Frank told us that she is in a memory care facility now and is doing as well as can be expected. Here are a few of her many accomplishments: She was one of the first women to be certified to SCUBA dive back in the 1960s, she was a National Champion in Spearfishing, commercial fisherwoman, teacher, photographer, mother to 4 boys, traveled the world collecting shells, exhibited in shell shows, was an active member and shell show chairperson for the Jacksonville Shell Club, and was active in COA (receiving the Neptunea Award in 2016). In honor of her love and support to so many of us in the shell world, Karlynn and Mark made a $500 contribution to our scholarship fund in Charlotte’s name.

Tonight’s program was given by our Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, who is also the new President of COA (Conchologists of America). Karlynn gave a slide program describing what COA is all about. COA is a national organization, started in 1972, of shell collectors from all over the world. Membership includes a full color quarterly magazine of both scientific information and also information submitted by members; COA supports grants totaling over $25,000 each year; Local shell club representatives get together each year at the annual convention to brainstorm ideas of how to support clubs and increase participation; COA provides the prestigious COA Trophy free of charge to 11 US and 4 overseas shell shows each year; the Neptunea award, one of two highest honors in COA, is presented each year to deserving COA members nominated by the membership and voted upon by the Board of Directors. Several North Carolina Shell Club members have been bestowed this honor: John Timmerman, Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller. The other high honor in COA is the Lifetime Achievement Award, given every other year. Doris Underwood and Donald Dan have received this award for their support of COA over many, many years. Nominations for this award are by the Board of Directors. There is also a wonderful website full of information at conchologistsofamerica.org, a list-serv called Conch-L, and Facebook page. Please check the website for more in-depth information. Finally, each year there is a convention, hosted by local shell clubs (many times also including members from other clubs who pitch in to help), in different places around the United States. Conventions are a wonderful way to connect with collectors and scientists from around the US and world. The 2022 convention will be in Galveston, Texas. Convention information will be in the December issue of the COA magazine and also on the webpage. The 2023 convention will be hosted by the NC Shell Club in Wilmington, NC. More information will be forthcoming on how members can help and be involved in the 2023 convention. Karlynn ended her presentation listing all the NC Club Members who are now Officers of COA: President Karlynn Morgan, Vice-President Everett Long, Member at Large Dan Minior, Member at Large Don Pisor (from California), Secretary and Awards Director Vicky Wall, and Convention Coordinator Anne Joffe (from Florida). Other NC Shell Club members holding positions in COA include Historian Alan Gettleman (from Florida) and Advertising Manager Amy Dick.

After Karlynn’s program, door prizes were awarded and there was time for more silent auction bidding. After the break, Ed Shuller, Chairman of the Nominating Committee, along with committee members Jeannette Tysor and Steve Boldy, presented the slate of officers for 2022-2023: President Everett Long, Vice-President John McKnight, Secretary Vicky Wall, Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, and Member at Large John & Jan Reaves. Current Member at Large Scott Foxx will continue in his position. Dora Zimmerman made a motion to accept the slate as presented. Karlynn Morgan seconded the motion and the membership unanimously voted “Yea” to accept the 2022-2023 slate of club officers.

A proposal, to be discussed later, was made to add a second Vice-President position to help get more people involved and for that person to gain more experience to eventually consider moving into the first Vice-President and President positions. Vice President Linda Gustafson then presented outgoing President Dora Zimmerman a gift from the club membership, as a thank you and to honor her for her work the past three years as our president, including a very difficult Covid year. The present was an original pottery doll, with shell motif, made especially for Dora.

Saturday, Nov. 6: 37 people attended tonight’s meeting (35 members and 2 guests). Registration started at 6 pm with the Live Auction Preview: over 100 lots of wonderful shells, coral and shell books. Another surprise for Dora Zimmerman was her brother Dan DeRemer giving her flowers sent by her husband Paul, to honor her as she finishes her term as club President.

Auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman did an awesome job of keeping the auction moving and entertained everyone in attendance. Totals for this weekend were $436 from the silent auction and $3689 from the oral auction for a total of $4125. Thank you to all who helped in the set up for this meeting, for donating time and items to the auctions, and for buying everything we had available in both auctions!

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club
Fall Meeting September 17-18, 2021

Cedar Point, NC

This was our first club meeting since November 2019, due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic. Welcome Back! We met at the Western Park Community Center in Cedar Point, NC.

Friday September 17 : 35 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration was held from 6:00-6:30 pm, with refreshments (thank you Diana Yeames), silent auction #1 bidding, and club table sales of pins, journals, t-shirts, sweatshirts, and hats. The silent and oral auctions this weekend will complete the sale of the Jerrold Michael Collection. At 6:30 pm Vice-President Linda Gustafson opened the meeting in the absence of President Dora Zimmerman.

Business Meeting: Treasurer Karlynn Morgan read the Treasurer’s Report. We have a balance of $34,564.05. The club’s major expenses include our Annual Shell Show and the scholarships the club sponsors at UNC-Wilmington. Secretary Vicky Wall reminded members that the minutes from club meetings are posted on the club website. Vicky read a note from John and Cheryl Jacobs thanking the club for helping with the 2021 COA Convention in Melbourne, Florida. Linda welcomed several new members in attendance tonight. Ed Shuller then told the membership that in the past few years the club has been fortunate to receive 10+ shell collection donations. Money received from our silent and oral auctions of these collections help to fund club activities such as our annual shell show and UNC-Wilmington scholarships. Many members have put in hours of driving time to collect the donations and then time to sort and ID the shells for auctions, scavenger hunt shells and shells for the give away box at the shell show. Ed continued to say that President Dora Zimmerman wanted to especially recognize Lt. Colonel Everett Long’s leadership in this endeavor (this was a surprise for Everett, with his wife Nancy in attendance). Dora presented a gift, in Everett’s name, in the amount of $300 to the Swansboro Young Marines Program. Tonight we had 3 Marines in attendance to help recognize Everett Long, retired USMC. Private Brian Knowles gave a short talk about the Young Marines Program and their values of discipline, teamwork, and leadership. He accepted the $300 check in honor of Everett Long. Needless to say, it is a very difficult task to surprise Everett! He was very appreciative of Dora’s thoughtfulness.

The Saturday field trip to Shackleford Banks will have 2 boats leaving the Ferry Dock at Harker’s Island. Boats will leave at 9 and 9:30 am, returning at 2 and 2:30 pm. Everett told the club about long time member Dean Weber, who is now 97 years old. He and his wife Dottie traveled the world collecting shells (only dead collected shells) and amassed an amazing collection. They donated their entire collection to the NC Coastal Federation. The Coastal Federation will be moving to a new building in the near future. Everett offered them the services of the club in the packing up and setting up of the collection in the new building. This move could occur around Dean’s 100 th birthday. Another long-time member, Mary Louise Spain, will be celebrating her 100 th birthday in October. The club approved up to $200 for Jeannette Tysor to purchase and deliver flowers for her and also make a donation to our scholarship program in Mary Louise’s name. Everett also encouraged all club members to send her a birthday card in October. The Pony Island Motel in Ocracoke has been sold to new owners. This is our go-to motel for our March meetings in Ocracoke. Everett had heard that the new owners had been told of our club’s faithful support of the motel and the people of Ocracoke over the years. We have made generous donations to help the islanders after several natural disasters. Back in July, the Board agreed that all Oral Auction proceeds from September would go toward the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department. We’re hoping that despite increases in hotel costs, the Pony Island will continue to offer the club a discount during our March meetings. More details to come later. New member Mimi Dill donated several plastic Stanley Tool boxes suitable for storing shells, to give away free as long as they lasted. All the boxes were taken by the end of the evening. Thank you Mimi! Conchologists of America (COA) announced its First Annual New Membership Challenge. Starting September 1, 2021 and running until May 1, 2022, the shell club which brings in the most new members will receive a $150 cash prize to be presented at the 2022 COA Convention in Galveston, Texas. To get this contest rolling, both Everett Long and Dan Minior offered to pay the yearly membership for 4 people each (total of 8) at this meeting. Thank you Everett and Dan for your very generous donation in this endeavor. Also available free at this meeting were several back issues of the COA magazine, American Conchologist. A big thank you to Dan DeRemer for picking up these magazines from Tom Grace in Pennsylvania. Tonight’s program was given by John and Jan Reaves, about their March 2019 shelling trip to the Pearl Islands of Panama. Also on the trip were Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, Alan Gettleman, Bill and Chury Bennight, Vicky Wall, Susan O’Connor, Tammy Zetka, and Everett Long. John and Jan showed slides of their adventures and also brought a case of shells they collected for members to see. Silent auctions 1 and 2 were concluded tonight.

Saturday September 18, 2021: 30 people attended tonight’s meeting. At 6:30 pm was registration and social time and oral auction preview. Vice-President Linda Gustafson opened the meeting. The field trip to Shackleford Banks went well. Approximately 30 people attended the trip. Several shellers also participated in the 2021 Carteret Big Sweep, picking up trash during the trip. Several large bags of trash were collected from the beach. Mark Johnson agreed to judge the Find of the Day contest. Many beautiful shells were found. The winning shell was a Trivia pediculus found by Nancy Timmerman. Nancy received a $20 gift certificate good for a future club table shell purchase. Karlynn Morgan reported she had spoken to President Dora Zimmerman and she relayed that Dora misses us and looks forward to seeing everyone in November. Dora was in Pennsylvania with her family upon the death last month of her husband Paul’s father. Karlynn also gave an update of our 2022 Shell Show, to be held May 6-8, 2022. Our new venue will be the Civic Center in Morehead City. Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller worked very hard to negotiate this venue for our shell show. It is an awesome space for the show and we will also save some money using this venue compared to our former venue in Wilmington, which became unavailable. More details will follow and we encourage all members to participate in the production of the shell show. There are many jobs to fill with something for everyone. It is a really fun time for all. The main event of this evening was the Oral Auction of the remainder of the Michael Shell Collection. Auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman did a great job. The oral auction total was $1392 (to be donated to the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department). The silent auction proceeds were $655, to go back into our club account. Our next meeting will be in Shallotte, NC, on November 5-6, 2021, with the main event being our Annual Oral Auction. Hope to see you there!

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

NORTH CAROLINA SHELL CLUB
WINTER MEETING: November 1-2, 2019

Sunset Beach, NC

Friday, Nov. 1: 51 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration started at 6:30 pm, including club sales of t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, journals and pins. Oral auction items were on display in advance of Saturday night’s auction. 100 silent auction items were available for bids tonight. President Dora Zimmerman opened the meeting at 7 pm. She asked for new members to stand and be recognized. It’s awesome that the club gained over 30 new members who signed up at the August shell show.

 

New Business: Dora held a shell show planning meeting at 4 pm this afternoon. More information about the show will be forthcoming as we get closer to the date of the show. Our 45<sup>th</sup> shell show will be May 22-24, 2020 at the Coastline Convention Center in Wilmington. Hotel reservations can be made now with the Best Western Plus hotel located on the grounds of the convention center. Ask for NC Shell Club rates. Volunteers are always needed for various activities at the show. Please check with Dora if you would like to help.

Dora recognized club officers for their help this past year: Ed Shuller, our newsletter Editor; Vice-President Linda Gustafson; Karlynn Morgan, who is our Treasurer, Facebook Page coordinator, Shell Show Chairman, and Webmaster; Secretary Vicky Wall; Historian Doug Wolfe; Members at Large Dan DeRemer and Harold Brown; and also thanks to Cheryl Manger for her support.

Secretary Vicky Wall read the minutes from the August Shell Show. The minutes from our May meeting were not read but are available on the club webpage. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan read the Treasurer’s Report. Our balance stands at $29,939.37. The club’s largest money makers are the silent and oral auctions. Money received helps with sponsoring our UNC-Wilmington student scholarships, building rentals for meetings, and for shell show expenses.

Everett Long had fabric patches made to give to Boy and Girl Scouts for their participation at the shell show. These beautiful iron-on patches, featuring our State Shell, the Scotch Bonnet, will be available for sale later this year at the shell show, for $5.00.

Dora gave an update on the recovery efforts on Ocracoke after Hurricane Dorian’s damage. The island suffered a 7 foot storm surge, with extensive flooding. There are still huge piles of debris waiting to be taken off the island. Despite the extensive damage, FEMA made the decision to not offer individual assistance to the folks needing help on Ocracoke. Soon after the storm, Everett Long spearheaded donation efforts, with many club members sending supplies and money to help with the recovery efforts. Susan O’Connor and Linda Gustafson helped with ferrying items to Everett to then be taken to Ocracoke. Thank you to everyone who donated supplies, pet food, and money for this effort. Our club is also in the process of collecting money donations to help buy books for the Community Library. Books can also be donated but they need to be new or in like new condition. Book donations can be brought to the March meeting, hopefully to be held on Ocracoke. Both adult and children books/money will be appreciated. Ocracoke Strong t-shirts are available for purchase online, money going to recovery efforts. We hope to be able to hold our March 27-28, 2020 meeting Ocracoke, not only to see old friends but to help get their economy rolling again. We will hold our regular silent auctions at the meeting and also a small oral auction, to help raise money for recovery efforts. Huge thanks to shell dealer and club member Frank Abramson, for his $500 donation to the book fund. Frank offered a friendly challenge to other members to match his donation. The Dan Minior family did just that, donating $500 to the book fund. Thank you SO much to these members for their generosity, and to all who have donated so far to help the folks on Ocracoke. **The Pony Island Inn is taking reservations now for the March meeting. Call them and leave a message, telling them you are with the NC Shell Club, and someone will get back to you. The NC Ferry Service usually starts taking March reservations the first of February.

Dora read thank you notes from shell dealers Brian Hayes, Donald Dan, Frank Abramson, and Sue Hobbs. These dealers have been faithful attendees to our shell show over the years. In appreciation, the club presented each of them with a paperweight gift at the shell show banquet. Each thanked the club for our thoughtfulness and they all said they looked forward to next year’s shell show.

Vice-President Linda Gustafson introduced our speaker (and club member) for the evening, Dr. Art Bogen, and also a hello to his wife Cindy. Art is Research Curator of Mollusks at the NC State Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh. In his career, Art has traveled to over 30 countries in search of freshwater mollusks, particularly bivalves. He has authored many articles and books and has published online identification guides for freshwater mussels. His talk was titled “What is a Freshwater Bivalve?” While freshwater mussels are often underappreciated, when observed, many have beautiful sculpture, pearly interiors, and amazingly intricate life cycles. They are very much threatened, some to the point of extinction, due to loss of habitat and water pollution. After his talk, Art offered to organize a field trip for the club, for a behind the scenes look at the research labs at the museum. Dora presented Art with a gift from the club, our newly re-ordered club t-shirt “Life is too short to not go Shelling!”

The 2020 planning meeting will be held at the community center Saturday morning at 9 am. Everyone is invited to attend.

The Officer Nominating Committee comprised of Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, and Doug Wolfe presented the slate of officers for 2020. Ed told the club that lately officers have signed on for two-year terms, or longer if anyone so desires. Our 2020 officers are: President Dora Zimmerman, Vice-President Linda Gustafson, Secretary Vicky Wall, Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, and Members at Large Dan DeRemer and Scott Foxx. Scott is our new Member at Large replacing outgoing Harold Brown.

Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019: 51 people attended tonight’s meeting and Oral Auction. Registration was held at 6 pm to help get an earlier start on the auction. The 2020 Planning meeting was held earlier today at 9 am. Following are the dates for our 2020 meetings. More information will be forthcoming in the newsletter and also on the club website: March 27-28 in Ocracoke, with field trip to Portsmouth Island (weather permitting) and small Oral Auction; May 22-24, Annual Shell Show in Wilmington; September 18-19 at Cedar Point, with field trip to Shackleford Banks (weather permitting); and November 6-7, Sunset Beach, Annual Big Oral Auction.

Other field trips might be added throughout the year, including a trip to the NC State Museum of Natural History and a fossiling trip sponsored by Dora Zimmerman, to fossil deposits in Maryland.

The Conchologists of American annual Convention is held every year at different locations in the country (mostly on the east coast). Check out the COA website at conchologistsofamerica.org for convention information. The convention this coming June will be in Melbourne, Florida. 2021 will be in Houston/Galveston, Texas. The North Carolina Shell Club hosted the 2014 convention and we are slated to host again in 2022, here in Wilmington. Co-Chairmen will be Ed Shuller and Jeannette Tysor. All members are encouraged to participate in the convention. There are lots of jobs to be filled. Please contact Ed or Jeannette if you have questions. The convention will be May 30-June 5, 2022. There are field trips offered 2 days prior to the convention, a Welcome Party, programs during the week, club sales tables from shell clubs around the country, silent auctions, door prizes, raffles, Banquet, and then the world famous Dealers Bourse….a ballroom filled with shell dealers from around the world. It is a sight to see and fun to meet so many folks who love to collect shells.

The Annual Oral Auction was once again lots of fun, with amazing shells to bid on. Everett Long filled in as Auctioneer for the first half of the auction, with helpers Harold Brown and Vicky Wall. Our regular auctioneer John Timmerman and his wife Nancy, finished the auction later in the evening. John is a man of many hats and was attending/helping with the Fossil Fair at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science earlier in the day. Our totals were $355 for the silent auction and $4017 for the Oral Auction! Thank you again for all who donated items for the auctions. Please start saving your shells and shell related items for next year’s silent auctions and Oral Auction. We also need “beach” shells for the give-away box at the shell show, nicer specimen shells with labels if possible, for the Scavenger Hunt prizes, and scotch bonnets to sell at the club table. People love scotch bonnets so shells in any condition are helpful.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club
43rd Shell Show, August 23-25, 2019

Wilmington, NC

 

The 43rd NC Shell Show was held August 23-25, 2019 at the Coastline Convention and Event Center in Wilmington, NC. This was a venue change for the show, after many years at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science. The club was fortunate to retain this venue after the 2018 Shell Show had to be cancelled due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence. The 3000 square foot convention room contributed to the success of the show. There was plenty of room for dealers at one end, exhibits on the other, with club tables around the perimeter. Club activities included: club sales tables, club membership and sales table, scavenger hunt with shell prizes, free shell give-away, Boy/Girl Scouts activity tables, and a children’s crafts table with 3 different activities. This was a huge hit with both adults and children. Participants could draw and color shells, paint real shells, and also make shell and bead necklaces. Scientific footage was 252 feet, with 30 feet of artistic exhibits. Attendance was more than we could have hoped. Moving to a new venue is always a leap of faith, and the folks of the Wilmington area didn’t disappoint! Attendance for the weekend was over 1200 people, including children, shell club members, exhibitors, and dealers. Scientific judges were Emilio Garcia from Louisiana and Alan Gettleman from Florida. Artistic judge was Nancy Timmerman. Everett Long blew a trumpet triton horn to announce the arrival of our “Queen”, 98 year old Mary Louise Spain. It was so special to see her at the show. Shell show dealers included Sue Hobbs and Phil Dietz, Brian Hayes, Frank Abramson, Richard Goldberg, first time at the show Island Express, and Bob Janowsky. Donald Dan had planned to attend but had to cancel due to health issues. He hopes to be at the show next year. Local Boy Scouts came to the show to complete their Collections Badge, with the help of shell club member and Scout Leader Scott Foxx, Paul Zimmerman, and Everett Long. Girl Scouts, Juniors, Brownies and Daisies participated too, working with Troop Leader and Everett Long’s daughter, Allison Long. Over $8000 was taken in, with entrance fees and club sales. The finalized total including shell show expenses will be reported later this year.

The annual Shell Show Banquet was held on August 24 th from 6-9:30 pm at the Hotel Ballast (the location of our 2014 Conchologists of America Convention). 72 people attended the banquet. Our guest of honor was our “Queen” Mary Louise Spain, who will be celebrating her 98 th birthday in November. We decided to celebrate early so she could see more people. We had a birthday crown for her, along with balloons and a beautiful cake with candles. President Dora Zimmerman thanked all who helped long and hard to make the show a success, including participants from so many states: North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana and New Jersey. We welcomed our 2019 UNC-Wilmington scholarship winner Tanner Charles Heath. Tanner is from Vermont and is a double major, in Marine Biology and Environmental Studies. We look forward to hearing more about his research and also his Spring Internship at Disney World, working with the Marine Dolphin Rescue Unit. The 2019 raffle prizes were awarded. The lucky winners were Shae Trainor, who won the soft side Yeti Cooler donated by Susan Rotman, and Ed Shuller, who won the fossil ammonite jewelry donated by Vicky Wall. On behalf of the club, Dora presented special paperweight keepsakes to the dealers who have supported our club over the years: Brian Hayes, Frank Abramson, Sue Hobbs and Phil Dietz, Richard Goldberg, Donald Dan, and Dave Watts. Everett Long announced a special thank you to Brady Semmel for his donation of the cost to place shell show advertisements in local magazines ($2000). He presented Brady with a beautiful piece of blue coral as a gift. A special event for the evening was the presentation of the Neptunea Award. This award is one of the two highest honors that the Conchologists of America bestow upon members who are nominated by other members and then voted upon by the Board of Directors. Our own John Timmerman won this award but could not attend the June convention in person to receive his honor. He did however know he had won through the use of Skype! It was an exciting evening in June and again at this banquet. Everett read the nomination information from the convention and then presented John with his beautiful Neptunea plaque. In fact, John designed the COA shell design logo! The speaker for the evening was scientific judge Emilio Garcia. Originally from Cuba, Emilio is a retired professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He gave a very interesting and entertaining slide program about his many travels to the South Pacific and Marshall Islands, collecting beautiful shells along the way. After his talk, Emilio presented the Master’s Award and Bosch Award to Gene Everson, for his exhibit “Shells from the Eastern Pacific”. The evening was concluded with Mary Louise Spain’s birthday celebration with birthday cake for everyone.

 

Award Winners from the Shell Show

Scientific Awards:

Master’s Award/Bosch Trophy: Gene Everson, “Shells of the Eastern Pacific”

Conchologists of America Trophy: Sheila Nugent, “Dr. Ruth Dixon Turner, Harvard’s Lady Wormwood

DuPont Trophy: Brady Semmel, “Masterpieces by Mollusks”

Alta VanLandingham Award: Vicky Wall, “In My Mind I’m Shelling In Carolina”

Dean and Dottie Weber Award: Brady Semmel, “Masterpieces by Mollusks”

Best NC Collection: Brady Semmel, “Masterpieces by Mollusks”

Hugh Porter Award: Greg Curry, “Scaphella junonia”

Best Shell of the Show Any Source: Allen Bennett, “Cassis patamakanthini”

Best Self Collected Shell: Ed Shuller, “Ecphora gardnerae”

Best Novice Exhibit: Aiden and Dan Minior, “The Shells of Hirase”

Best Fossil Exhibit: Greg Curry, “Scaphella Fossil”

Best Small Exhibit: Greg Curry, “Genus Nannamoria Fossil and Recent”

People’s Choice Award: Brady Semmel, “Masterpieces by Mollusks”

Judge’s Special Award Ribbon: Jeannette Tysor & Ed Shuller, “Treasures of a Different Kind”

Judge’s Special Award Ribbon: Allen Bennett, “Beautiful Shells from 50 Families of Marine Mollusks”

Artistic Awards:

Best Scientific Photography: Jeannette Tysor, “Conus geographus”

Best Artistic Photography: Sheila Nugent, “Pearly Mussels” Best Arts and Crafts Using Actual Shells: Susan Saunders, “Special Delivery”

Best Arts and Crafts Depicting Shells: Toni Boldy, “The Shell Collection” (quilt)

Best Sailor’s Valentine (modern): Susan Saunders, “Gratitude”

Judge’s Special Award Ribbon: Irmgard Cate, “Koi Table”

Blue Ribbons by Category:

Scientific:

North Carolina Collection: Brady Semmel, “Masterpieces by Mollusks”

Regional Self-Collected: Jeannette Tysor & Ed Shuller, “Treasures of a Different Kind” Regional Collection Any Source: Amy Dick, “The Seychelles, An Indian Ocean Adventure

Fresh Water Collection: Sheila Nugent, “Aroostook, A North Woods Adventure”

Land Snails: John Reeves, “Liguus fasciatus of Southern Florida

Fossil Mollusks: Greg Curry, “Scaphella Fossil”

Specialized Collection: Gene Everson, “Black and White Shells”

Single Shell Self Collected: Everett Long, “Nerita peloronta”

Single Shell Any Source: Dan Minior, “Amalda parentalis”

Family or Genus Collection: Greg Curry, “Genus Nannamoria Fossil and Recent”

Educational Exhibit: Sheila Nugent, “Dr. Ruth Dixon Turner, Harvard’s Lady Wormwood”

Mollusk Natural History: Linda and Jim Brunner, “The Aquaria of Alta VanLandingham”

Scientific Shell Photography: Jeannette Tyson, “Conus geographus”

Artistic:

Artistic Shell Photography: Sheila Nugent, “Pearly Mussels”

Arts and Crafts Using Actual Shells: Susan Saunders, “Special Delivery” and Irmgard Cate, “The Scallop is My Canvas”

Arts and Crafts Depicting Shells: Toni Boldy, “The Shell Collection”

Modern Sailor’s Valentines: Susan Saunders, “Gratitude”

Arts and Crafts not Created by the Exhibitor: Sheila Nugent, “Dan Tribal Masks”

Red Ribbons by Category:

Scientific:

North Carolina Collection: Vicky Wall, “In My Mind I’m Shelling In Carolina”

Regional Collection Any Source: Greg Curry, “Scaphella junonia”

Single Shell Self Collected: Gene Everson, “Volutoconus coniformis”

Single Shell Any Source: Everett Long, “Panopea bitruncata”

Educational Collection: Karlynn Morgan, “Limpets-They’re Not All The Same”

One Case Wonder: Everett Long, “Cheilea cepacea”

Scientific Shell Photography: Vicky Wall, “Nassarius distortus”

Arts and Crafts:

Modern Sailor Valentine: Mary Brackman, “Hatteras Fever”

Arts and Crafts Depicting Shells: Peter Brimlow, “Sea Shells of Cape Lookout”

Arts and Crafts Using Actual Shells: Rose Bunch, “Spring Time”

Respectfully submitted,

 

North Carolina Shell Club
Summer Meeting May 17-18, 2019

Cedar Point, NC

 

Friday May 17: 29 people attended tonight’s meeting at the Western Park Community Center in Cedar Point, NC. Registration was held from 6:30 to 7:00 pm. Club items were available for sale including t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, Hugh Porter books, club pins, and journals. Also available were raffle tickets for the soft side Yeti Cooler, fossil ammonite jewelry, and Acteon eloisae shell jewelry. The silent auction for the night featured shells from the Jerrod Michael collection. President Dora Zimmerman opened the meeting at 7:00 pm. Dora informed the club that our speaker for tonight, Alan Gettleman, from Merritt Island, Florida, was ill and could not make the trip. She also mentioned that member Susan Ross has entered assisted living. There was a greeting card for everyone to sign for her. Also graduation cards for members Hannah Rotman, heading to the University of Alabama, and Anne Fogleman, graduating from Nursing School. In Alan’s absence, our 2018 scholarship recipient, Christian Commander, sent a video for the club to watch about his continuing research on oyster populations and how they are impacted by various environmental and man-made factors. Christian is currently studying in Oregon, completing his PhD program. Christian was very kind to thank the club for our help with the financial aspect of his education.

Old Business: Treasurer Karlynn Morgan reported on our club’s finances. Our balance currently stands at $30,610.83. Thank you to all who contribute funds when purchasing items from silent and oral auctions, purchasing club items, donations to the scholarship funds, and paying membership dues on time. This input allows us to be able to afford offering scholarships and also to fund our annual shell show. Secretary Vicky Wall read the minutes from the March meeting in Ocracoke. Minutes from past meetings are posted on our club’s webpage too. Saturday’s field trip will be to Shackleford Banks. The boats leave from the Harker’s Island Park Service dock at 9:00 and 9:45 am. Please be at the docks by 8:30 am.

New Business: The 2019 shell show will be held this year in August due to the 2018 show being cancelled due to Hurricane Florence. The club is looking to move our 2020 shell show to May to better avoid hurricane season. We will just switch meetings, having the shell show in May and a regular Cedar Point meeting with Shackleford Banks field trip in September. Jeannette Tysor is working with the Convention Center in Wilmington to try to secure a May 2020 date for the shell show. Ed Shuller announced that the Conchologists of America organization has asked our club to host another COA Annual Convention, slated for 2022. Our club hosted the 2014 Convention in Wilmington, which was a huge success. We have also helped host the 2018 convention in Key West as there was no local shell club there, and several NC members are playing key roles in this year’s convention in Captiva Island, Florida. There was a motion from David Bunn to agree for the club to proceed to hosting the 2022 convention. John Timmerman seconded the motion, and the motion was approved. Since the 2014 convention, the North Carolina Shell Club has received national attention from the COA organization and also from other shell clubs, who have looked to us for help with their conventions. Our shell club and shell show has benefitted from this attention. Our club also has several members on the COA Board of Directors, including Vice-President Karlynn Morgan, Secretary Amy Dick, Trustee Everett Long, COA Awards Director Vicky Wall, and Members at Large Doug Wolfe and Ed Shuller.

Tonight’s silent auction brought in $271. Thank you to all who bid. Door prizes were awarded to conclude the meeting.

Saturday May 18, 2019: 28 people attended tonight’s meeting. The field trip to Shackleford Banks was a huge success, with warm, sunny weather, Banker Pony appearances, and lots of shells. 26 people went on the field trip.

Tonight’s program was given by the 2018 Fiji/Vanuatu Travelers. Vicky Wall presented a power point program, supplemented with photos and stories from those who were on this shelling trip: Everett Long, Karlynn Morgan, Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, Tom Stewart, Doug and Nancy Wolfe, Linda Powers, Sherry McKinney, and Dora Zimmerman. Dora also brought Kava and Vegemite for any brave soul who wanted to try some Fiji cuisine! Kava is a ceremonial drink made from the Kava root. The roots are powdered and mixed with water. Vegemite is a grain based spread enjoyed by folks in Europe and Australia. It is very salty and according to Dana Bunn, tastes like onion dip. Thank you to Dora, Cheryl Manger, and Linda Gustafson for decorating the community center with tropical décor, including flowers and an inflatable palm tree!

Tonight’s silent auction brought in $58.

A big thank you to Elodie and Aiden Minior for helping with door prizes.

The Find of the Day contest was judged by Karlynn Morgan. It was a tie for the Juniors, with Elodie and Aiden Minior sharing First Place. Elodie found a beautiful whelk and Aiden a complete Sunray Venus clam. The Adult prize went to John Timmerman for his dark blue/black Channeled Whelk. First runner-up was John Reaves for his awesome northern quahog clam with an oyster that had grown inside the shell. John also got Honorable Mention for his red shotgun “shell”!

A reminder that our Shell Show will be August 22-25, 2019 in Wilmington. Details are on the club website, with more information coming soon. Thank you to Cheryl Manger and Linda Gustafson for providing refreshments this weekend in the absence of Diana Yeames and Tammy Zetka. We also welcomed new members Judy Earl from Arizona and Sue Straley from Kentucky. Both were visiting family in North Carolina and were able to attend our meeting. Another visitor, who was also on the 2018 Fiji trip, Tom Stewart drove up from Florida for our meeting and field trip to Shackleford Banks.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club
Spring Meeting March 29-30, 2019

Ocracoke, NC

Friday March 29: 65 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration began at 6:30 pm, with fellowship and refreshments. Thank you to Diana Yeames for arranging our refreshments. Club items were for sale, including shirts, sweatshirts, hats, journals, pins, Hugh Porter shell books, and raffle tickets. Our 2019 raffle items (tickets $5 each) are a soft side Yeti cooler donated by Susan Rotman and a fossil ammonite earrings and necklace pendant set donated by Vicky Wall. The drawing will be held at the 2019 NC Shell Show Banquet in August. The club also has a special raffle item of an earrings and necklace set featuring 3 Acteon eloiseae shells from Oman, donated by Mique Pinkerton. Tickets are also $5 each, to be sold here at Ocracoke and also at our May meeting in Cedar Point. Tickets will also be sold to participants at the Conchologists of America 2019 Convention held at Captiva Island, Florida in June. Proceeds from these raffles will help to fund ongoing club activities and scholarships. You do not need to be present at the drawings to win.

**Correction from the November 2018 minutes: the McKnight shell book collection will be offered for sale during the COA Convention. I had mistakenly wrote “Bosch” instead of McKnight. Thank you to Everett Long for bringing that to my attention**

President Dora Zimmerman opened the meeting at 7 pm. A week prior to our meeting, Dora and brother Dan DeRemer’s step-mother passed away. Dora read a poem to the club thanking club members for their love and support during this most difficult time. Saturday’s field trip to Portsmouth trip is a go, with warm sunny weather expected. There will be 2 boats that can transport 16 people each, starting at 8 am. Open to club members first, seats on the boats will be first come, first served at $20 per person. Everett Long will be at the harbor docks to collect money in the morning. Susan O’Connor arranged for the production of a large, colorful club flag to be posted on the beach during field trips. This flag will serve as a landmark during this and future field trips.

The speaker for tonight was Philip Howard, whose great grandfather was the Ocracoke Rescue Station keeper in the late 1800s. Philip told us amazing stories of the strength, courage, and fortitude of his grandfather and the 8 men under his watch. Over 44 years, 28,000 ships in distress were tended to, with 177,000 people saved from storms….a 99% success rate! The original life saving station was moved in 1903 to the building that now houses NCCAT (the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching). Philip also had at the meeting, the original 1894 records book that his great grandfather kept at the station. One amazing rescue he recounted occurred off Cape Lookout in February of 1905. The 8 Surfmen and their Keeper William Gaskill were either very sick from the flu or in various stages of recovery. William spotted a ship aground on the shoals offshore. Himself very sick, he roused his crew from their sickbeds and those men manned the rowboat 9 miles to the stricken 3 masted schooner. Prior to getting to the water’s edge, the men had to push the 1000 pound boats, on a wagon with metal wheels pulled by a horse, to shore. Then once they breached the breakers, came the 9 mile trip out to the ship. Once there, the stormy sea was a mass of broken ship, lumber, and debris. It took almost 8 hours to reach the ship at 4 pm where they found 6 sailors in trouble, clinging to what was left of the ship. But it was nightfall and too dangerous to try a rescue. Those sick rescuers clad in their oilskin clothing took their rowboat out to sea to wait until daybreak to attempt a rescue. At daybreak, they tried again but there was still too much debris in the water. The 6 sailors were still alive. Finally at 11 am, the tide changed, seas calmed enough for the men to get close enough to heave a rescue line to the stricken vessel. Each sailor tied the line to his waist and was dragged to the lifeboat. All 6 men were saved. The sick surfmen gave their oil skins to the sailors and rowed 9 miles back to shore. The whole operation took over 28 hours! All 8 surfmen and Keeper Gaskill were awarded service medals for their bravery.

Door prizes were awarded after the program.

To conclude tonight’s meeting was a special auction of shells from the Michael Collection, donated to the club by Mrs. Jerrold Michael, and grandchildren Josh and his sister Clair Michael. These wonderful shells were collected over the years by Rear Admiral Jerrold M. Michael. Club member and shell dealer Richard Goldberg appraised the collection for the family and recommended that they donate the collection to our club for our auction and receive a tax deduction for the value of the collection. Everett Long worked with Richard to receive the collection for the club. 49 lots will be auctioned tonight, with more shells available tomorrow night in a silent auction and also in future silent auctions and our regular annual auction in November. Auctioneer John Timmerman conducted the auction, with the help of able assistants Linda Gustafson and Dr. Brady Semmel.

Saturday March 30: 56 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration began at 6:30 pm, with refreshments and club sales. President Dora Zimmerman conducted a brief business meeting. Secretary Vicky Wall read the minutes from the November 2018 club meeting. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan was travelling overseas so the treasurer’s report will be given at the May meeting. Congratulations were extended to reporters and club members Connie Leinbach and Peter Vankevich of the Ocracoke Observer Newspaper for receiving North Carolina Press Association Awards. Dora thanked them for their coverage of our club’s activities in Ocracoke. Diana Yeames then tried to find out who donated the jar of “Everett’s Olives” to the refreshment counter! No one came forward. Please see the photos posted on the club website of this rare delicacy. Happy Birthday wishes were extended to David Bunn and also congratulations to David and Dana for recently celebrating their 50<sup>th</sup> wedding anniversary.

Our speaker for tonight was club member Dr. Dan Minior. He gave a very interesting power point presentation about various poisonous and toxic marine animals and how the medical community treated these evenomations. Everyone enjoyed participating and those lucky folks who answered questions during his program received a gift shell from Dr. Minior. Some of the animals he discussed included sea snakes, cone snails, jellyfish, octopus, sting rays, sea urchins, fish, fire coral and sponges. New member Jason Kessler donated a container of vinegar to the club, which is the go-to quick first aid item for many marine evenomations! Several club members have collected deadly cone snails over the years. 30-50 people have died from cone stings over the past 300 years. The venom is so potent that one evenomation has enough poison to kill 10 people. The most poisonous is Conus geographus, followed by Conus textile, Conus striatus, Conus aulicus, and Conus omaria.

Door prizes were awarded after the program. Judge Doug Wolfe had many beautiful shells to judge for Find of the Day. There were two junior entries, a fossil and recent Scotch Bonnet. Lily Pemberton won for her recent Scotch Bonnet. The winner for the “non-scotch bonnet” find of the day was Bill Bennight for the pearl he almost ate from his dinner oyster! The winner for best scotch bonnet was Tammy Zetka for her tiny, immature specimen. Doug made the comment that he had never seen a specimen like it. Doug also told the club of his adventures while others traveled to Portsmouth Island. He and Peter Vankevich came acoss a road near the Campground that had been paved with fossil marl, full of fossil seashells! From the various species he found, Doug felt that the fossil-containing material had been transported to Ocracoke from Florida. Other road fill contained modern shell species such as northern sea scallops, moon snails, northern whelks, and New England neptunes. Fossil species included augurs, vases, cones both right and left handed, whelks, fighting conch, miters, and nutmegs. These fossil shells, dating from 5 to 14 million years ago, were amazingly similar in structure to modern day species.

Thank you to all for your auction bids this weekend. The oral auction brought in $1375 and the silent auction proceeds were $438. Our next meeting will be May 17-18, 2019 in Cedar Point, NC.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting
November 9-10, 2018
Sunset Beach, NC

Friday November 9: 49 people attending tonight’s meeting held at the Sea Trails Community Center. Registration started at 6:30 pm, with refreshments available. Thank you to all who brought food and drinks and to Diana Yeames for organizing our refreshments for the weekend. Live auction items were on display, as were club items for sale including t-shirts, sweat shirts, new club hats, Hugh Porter books, club pins, and club journals. The 2018 raffle ticket sale was closed but new raffle tickets, for $5.00 each, were available for the 2019 raffle of a soft side Yeti cooler donated by Susan Rotman and a fossil ammonite pendant and earring set donated by Vicky Wall. Those raffle prizes will be awarded at the 2019 Shell Show Banquet in August. President Everett Long opened the meeting at 7 pm, welcoming all to the meeting. Vice-President Dora Zimmerman introduced our speaker for the evening, Ranger Mike Walker, Interpretive Naturalist at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. Mike’s program was about the Secret Lives of Sea Shells. He brought along various shell specimens and aquariums with a live Florida Horse Conch and Apple Murex. After his talk, Everett presented him with a gift of a club sweat shirt. Mike encouraged club members to look him up when visiting Huntington Beach State Park. Bidding was brisk for silent auction items. A big thank you to Bill Bennight and Susan O’Connor for organizing and setting up the silent auction tables.

Business : Our September shell show was cancelled due to Hurricane Florence. The 2019 Shell Show will be held August 23-25 with set up on August 22, at the same location we planned for in September, the Coastline Convention Center in Wilmington. More information will be forthcoming. The convention center and hotel worked with the club to move our reservations to August with no loss of deposit money. The club did lose some advertisement money, along with Dr. Brady Semmel, who donated advertisement money for an article and ad in the Wrightsville Beach Magazine. Our 2019 raffle items are a soft side Yeti Cooler donated by Susan Rotman and a fossil ammonite pendant and earring set donated by Vicky Wall. Everett also announced a special raffle prize to be awarded at the 2019 Conchologists of American Convention this June on Captiva Island, Florida. This raffle will benefit our club and will feature a necklace and earrings set made with 3 beautiful Acteon eloisae shells, donated by Mique Pinkerton. Tickets for this special raffle will be sold at the March and May shell club meetings. One does not have to be present at the convention to win. Since our fall banquet was cancelled, the 2018 raffle prizes were awarded tonight. Connie Leinbach from Ocracoke won the two helmet shells with cameo earrings donated by Sue Hobbs and Dora Zimmerman. Dan DeRemer won the Conus cedonulli shell donated by Amy Dick. Everett gave an update on the UNC-Wilmington scholarships our club sponsors. So far our club has donated $7696 in scholarships to several undergraduate and graduate Marine Biology students. We also have $1250 dollars in reserve in our scholarship fund held at UNCW. The Bosch Scholarship funds balance remaining with the club is $4,034.63. The club plans to award two $1000 scholarships for the next few years - one $1,000 from Bosch funds and one $1,000 from general scholarship funds. Several club members have donated to both funds. The money raised tonight from the sale of shell books donated by the Palmetto Shell Club in South Carolina will be designated to the Bosch Fund. Additional funds will be received from the sale of Bosch shells and books at the 2019 COA Convention. Tonight’s special oral auction of the shell books donated by the Palmetto Shell Club was conducted by our able auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman. This auction brought in $310 dollars, which was to be split with the Palmetto Shell Club. That club has decided to donate their amount, along with our club’s $155 share to the Bosch Scholarship Fund.

Treasurer Karlynn Morgan gave the Treasurer’s Report. The club currently has a balance of $28,351.60.

Tomorrow morning at 9 am, in the Community Center, will be our 2019 Planning Meeting, conducted by incoming President, Dora Zimmerman. Shell Show Chairman Karlynn Morgan will be giving updates on the 2019 shell show. Board Members will be in attendance and all other members are invited to attend this meeting as we plan for 2019. Several club members are going to have dinner at Sharky’s in Ocean Isle (base of bridge) at 5pm. Happy Birthday to Dana Bunn and Jeannette Tysor. Everett had great news on another donation to our club for our auctions. Everett has been working with shell dealer Richard Goldberg on an estate shell collection in Maryland. The family decided to donate the collection to our club! It has been appraised at $5000, including mostly shells from the South Pacific. These shells will appear at our 2019 auctions and club sales table. Bill Bennight was tonight’s judge for the “Best Olive” Contest. There was a bit of a controversy when Dr. Ron Hill’s very creative entry of a gem condition green olive complete with pimento, was disqualified. However, Dr. Hill’s disappointment was short lived when he won the contest with a beautiful Tented Olive, Oliva porphyria. He was awarded a $20 Certificate, good towards the purchase of any North Carolina Shell Club item! The nominating committee of Ed Shuller, Doug Wolfe, and Jeannette Tysor presented the slate of officers for 2019: President Dora Zimmerman, Vice-President Linda Gustafson, Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, Secretary Vicky Wall, and Members at Large: Harold Brown (additional 1 year term) and Dan DeRemer. The motion was made and carried to keep this slate of 2019 club officers. Outgoing President Everett Long, who has served the club for the past 3 years, presented a gift to each board member. New President Dora Zimmerman presented Everett with a gift of a Marine Corps Christmas ornament.

Door prizes were awarded to conclude the evening.

Saturday Planning Meeting, November 10: The planning meeting for 2019 was conducted by new President Dora Zimmerman. Present at the meeting were: Dora Zimmerman, Linda Gustafson, Karlynn Morgan, Vicky Wall, Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, Dan DeRemer, Bill Bennight, Susan O’Connor, Diana Yeames, Doug and Nancy Wolfe, Juanita Crouch, Everett Long, Dave Bunn, and Brooke Selmer. Dates and locations for 2019 meetings are: March 29-30 Ocracoke; May 17-18 Cedar Point; August 22-25 Shell Show Weekend, Wilmington; and November 1-2 Sunset Beach. More details will be forthcoming in the club newsletters. After the meeting, the State Shell Records Committee of Ed Shuller and Doug Wolfe were available to measure shells in contention for state size records. 7 new records were recorded for collector Stephanie Bain. Check out the size records list on our club webpage.

Saturday Evening Meeting, November 10: 45 people attended tonight’s meeting, which was the much anticipated Annual Oral Auction. Auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman kept the action moving and were able to entertain the shell crowd! Bidding was brisk, with several items going over $100. Silent Auction total for the weekend: $332. Oral Auction total: $2498. A huge thank you to everyone who donated shells and other items to both the silent auction and oral auction and other silent auctions held throughout the year.

Our next meeting will be March 29-30, 2019 in Ocracoke, NC. Best wishes to all for a happy and healthy holiday season. See you in 2019!

Respectfully Submitted,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club Spring Meeting
March 23-24, 2018
Ocracoke, NC

 

Friday, March 23: 43 people attended tonight’s meeting at the Ocracoke Community center. About 25 club members enjoyed dinner at Howard’s Pub. Registration was at 7:00 pm and included time to peruse the entries for the weekend’s Spiny Shell Contest, the silent auction items, and also club items for sale including t-shirts, sweat shirts, pins, Hugh Porter’s NC Shell Book, and our new club journals/pens. President Everett Long opened the meeting at 7:30 pm, with a special welcome to folks from Ocracoke attending our meeting. He gave details of the Saturday field trip to Portsmouth Island. With the added interest in the trip there will be two boats. One taking people to the village for a tour and the other for people who want to head to the beach. Cost will be $20 per person and the boats will be located near the ferry landing, leaving at 8:30 am, with return trips at 2 pm and 4 pm. Newsletter Editor Ed Shuller gave an update on the new location for our annual Shell Show, which will be held at the Coastline Conference and Event Center September 28-30, 2018. For the first time the show will have one large room to house both exhibits and shell dealers. The club will advertise our new location with full color rack cards and 10 realtor type signs in the downtown area. Vice-President Dora Zimmerman introduced our speaker, Frank Frum. Frank is an Ocracoke resident with a 43 year career with the park service, including 28 years as Caretaker of Portsmouth Village. He has lived on Ocracoke for 40 years and has two children who are native Ocracokers. He gave an interesting and entertaining talk about the history of Portsmouth and neighboring villages, dating back to the 1700s. Portsmouth Village thrived catering to ocean vessels and trade until 1846, when a hurricane opened Hatteras and Oregon Inlets. These new shipping routes damaged Portsmouth’s business with trade vessels. A second blow came with the Civil War Union blockades of the island. People continued to leave the island. The last two elderly residents left their island in 1971. Some interesting facts: the school house had 3 students in the 1940s; Blackbeard the Pirate was killed in the area 300 years ago; peak population was between 800 and 900 people; weddings are still held at the little church on the island (which used to lean to one side but has been leveled, to the chagrin of many); and best of all, Our State Magazine featured Portsmouth on its cover in 2012 as the #1 Prettiest Place in North Carolina. Dave was also quoted on the cover! Relatives of Portsmouth residents hold a family reunion on the island each year, to celebrate their heritage. After his talk, Everett Long presented Dave with a club sweatshirt.

Dora Zimmerman reminded the club of the extra Fossil Field Trip on April 14<sup>th</sup> to the Calvert Cliffs of southern Maryland. Fossils in these deposits age back 5 -23 million years. The trip is open to 10 people and Dora will host dinner at her house after the trip. Please contact Dora for information. Future field trips include one to Huntington Beach State Park during the November meeting. Details to come later. Tammy Zetka and Susan O’Connor led a field trip in March to Bull Island, SC. There were many photos posted on the club Facebook page and a good time was had by all who attended. On April 28<sup>th</sup>, Everett will be hosting a shell workshop at his home to sort through more of the Truckner Family collection that was donated to our club. We will be separating shells for our silent auctions, oral auctions, and shell give-aways at the Shell Show. On Saturday after 3 pm, members can bring shells to the Pony Island hotel for official measurement by Doug Wolfe and Ed Shuller for possible inclusion in our listings of North Carolina State size records. Everett mentioned a potential field trip in late June to the University of SC in Charleston to view the shells of Ravenel. Ed Shuller served as judge for the Best Spiny Shell and the winner was Daniel Minior for a beautiful Spondylus thorny oyster. Everett then made the announcement of new Conchologists of America board members: Karlynn Morgan as Vice-President and Vicky Wall as COA Trophy Director. Other NC Shell Club members on the COA board include Trustee Everett Long, At Large Members Doug Wolfe, Ed Shuller, and Amy Dick. Since hosting the 2014 COA Convention in Wilmington, our club has received increased visibility and accolades from other shell clubs and collectors all over the country. It’s a lot of hard work but it is very rewarding to have other clubs ask for our help and guidance for other COA Conventions, and also ask to attend our club meetings, field trips, and exhibit in our shell show. The next COA Convention will be held the last week of August in San Diego, California. Details are available on our club webpage and also the COA webpage. Door prizes were awarded to conclude the evening.

Saturday, March 24: 41 people attended tonight’s meeting. 34 members attended the field trip to Portsmouth Island village and the beach for collecting. Several beautiful fresh dead Scotch Bonnets were found, along with other nice shells. The weather was sunny and much milder than earlier forecasted! Karlynn Morgan judged the finds of the day. The award for Junior Find of the Day went to Aiden and Elodie Minior for their Scotch Bonnets. The Adult Find of the Day was awarded to Toni Boldy and Jan Reeves for their beautiful Scotch Bonnets. A big thank you was extended to Susan Rotman for making chili for dinner and also to Diana Yeames for organizing the wonderful drinks and snacks we all enjoyed during the weekend. Thanks to all who provided food…it is always appreciated. Our annual Special Door Prize Raffle was a big success. At 25 cents each for extra tickets, the club raised $175! These special specimen shells were purchased from Brian Hayes or donated by John Timmerman and one other member who wished to stay anonymous. All money raised by the club funds our shell show and related expenses and the scholarships we sponsor at UNC-Wilmington. A reminder to all was for tomorrow’s ferry off the island. The ferry to Cedar Island leaves at 7:30 am, with check in at 7:00 am. (It was a bit rocky heading home but the ferry left on time and made it to Cedar Island just fine.) The Queen, 96 year old Mary Louise Spain, was unable to attend the meeting due to a fractured and healing ankle but we hope to see her soon. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan gave her report to the club. Our balance stands at $28,377.45. Next year’s membership booklet will include small photographs of members, courtesy of Bill Bennight. Tonight’s program was given by Doug Wolfe, about his and Nancy’s 2016 trip to Thailand. This trip was mainly a bird watching trip but Doug and Nancy managed to find shells too during their adventure. Their slides were beautiful, capturing the countryside of Thailand and many, many different species of birds that live there.

Thank you to all who brought items for both silent auctions this weekend. Bidding was brisk, bringing in a total of $472. Thank you to Bill Bennight and Susan O’Connor for organizing the silent auctions. In addition, the club brought in another $192 from our annual raffle prize tickets, club notebook sales, and sales of club merchandise, for a grand total of $839. A few new NC Size records were set this weekend: two for Brady Semmel and two for Stephanie Bain. Congratulations! The list of NC state size records is on our club webpage.

Our next meeting will be May 18-19, 2018 in Cedar Point, NC, with a field trip to Shackleford Banks. Until then, everyone take care and hope to see you soon.

Respectfully,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting
November 3-4, 2017
Sunset Beach, NC

Friday November 3 : 44 people attended tonight’s meeting. Registration was held from 6 to 7pm. Club t-shirts, pins, and sweatshirts were available for purchase. At 7 pm, Vice-President Dora Zimmerman called the meeting to order. She thanked everyone who brought auction items and food. Everything was wonderful. She then introduced our speaker for the evening, Mr. Jim McKee. Mr. McKee is the Manager at the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site. He gave a very interesting program about the history of old Brunswick Town, dating back several hundred years. Brunswick was a major world port in the 1700s, located on the Cape Fear River. The ruins of St. Philips Church are on site and Mr. McKee explained how the remaining brick walls of the church have been restored and preserved. He also explained how employing breakwaters along the shoreline helps to prevent shoreline erosion caused by the ship traffic up and down the river. The most recent archaeological find in old Brunswick is a cannon that dates back to 1680-1720. It is currently in the first stages of preservation. After his talk, the club gave him a gift of a club t-shirt. It was fun to see how happy he was to receive the shirt he had admired before the meeting. Tonight’s fun shell contest was “The Best Tented Shell”. Karlynn Morgan was the judge and the winner of the Best Tented Shell was Doug Wolfe for his huge Conus gloriamaris, The Glory of the Seas Cone shell. Thanks to all who entered their shells. President Everett Long asked for Old Business. Secretary Vicky Wall read the minutes from the October Shell Show and Banquet. Karlynn Morgan gave the Treasurer’s Report. Our current balance stands at $ 29,341.66.

Everett told the club that after he told Peter Dance, who lives in England, about our own Jean Newell reading his poem about the Acteon eloise at the banquet, Peter sent Jean a signed copy of his book, “Seashells on My Mind”, that includes the poem he wrote. Dan DeRemer then presented the slate of officers for 2018 in the absence of Nominating Committee Chairman Susan O’Connor: President, Everett Long; Vice-President, Dora Zimmerman; Treasurer, Karlynn Morgan; and Secretary, Vicky Wall. David Bunn made a motion to accept the slate as presented. Diana Yeames seconded the motion, and the motion was carried. Everett then recognized club members and presented them with gifts of appreciation for all the work they do for the club: Susan Ross for organizing refreshments at meetings and shell show; Jeannette Tysor for her work on the shell show banquet, shell show lunch, and club table; Susan O’Connor and Bill Bennight for their work on the silent auctions; Doug Wolfe for his work on preserving the history of our club; Ed Shuller for his work on our club newsletters; and John Timmerman for all he has done for the shell show and club auctions these many years. Everett closed with the information that Betsy Bluthenthal’s family trust donated $500 to the Cape Fear Museum in honor of John Timmerman. The meeting concluded with a few more minutes of silent auction time and door prizes. Tomorrow’s 2018 Planning Meeting will start at 9 am. All are invited to attend.

Saturday November 4: 2018 Planning Meeting: President Everett Long decided to hold the annual planning meeting this morning to allow more members to attend, especially those from out of state. Next year’s meeting will go back to its normal January date to give the incoming President time to prepare for the meeting. Attending this morning’s meeting were: Everett Long, Dora Zimmerman, Dan DeRemer, Bill Bennight, Doug and Nancy Wolfe, Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, Juanita Crouch, Tamara Zetka, Diana Yeames, Brooke Selmer, David Bunn, Ronald Hill, Vicky Wall, and Karlynn Morgan. Please see the attachment with more detailed information about upcoming meetings. Meetings and dates for 2018 are: Ocracoke March 23-24; Cedar Point May 18-19; Annual Shell Show Fall TBA; Sunset Beach November 9-10. Stay tuned for upcoming newsletters with information about the meetings, field trips, special fun shell contests etc.

Saturday Evening November 4: Tonight was our Annual Auction. Funds raised from the silent and oral auctions help to fund club activities including the shell show and the scholarships for UNC-Wilmington marine biology students that we sponsor. 43 people were in attendance. Auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman kept the action moving, with great shells and laughter. The total amount collected from the silent and oral auctions was $3,801. Thank you to all who contributed items for our silent and oral auctions. A big thank you to John Timmerman for his work photographing auction items for the production of the online auction catalog.

Respectfully submitted,

Attachment on Planning Meeting

Mark your calendars and plan on attending the meetings and going on some club sponsored shelling trips. All items listed below may change due to weather, natural disasters, man made disasters, ferries running aground, speakers getting sick, etc. This is a planning tool which we hope will have limited changes.

23 and 24 March--Ocracoke
Fri: night:  Doors open 6pm--Food (TBA) by Rotman at 6:30 pm
Speaker: Frank Frum -Caretaker of Portsmouth Village
Silent auction/Door prizes
Shell of the meeting- Any shell with spines

Sat. Trip to Portsmouth village for one hour and than to the beach for shelling

Sat. night:
Speaker--Dr. Doug Wolfe ( subject TBA)
Find of the day/
Special door prizes ( buy extra tickets to improve your chances)
Silent auction

18 and 19 May --Cedar Point
Fri. Night -  6pm doors open --meeting at 7pm
Guest speaker- 2017 Scholarship winner from UNCW
Shell craft of the meeting--Any shell related craft made by the exhibitor. No commercial items.
Door prizes

Sat. Trip to Shackleford Island. Time and cost will be by additional e-mails.
Sat. night 5pm Dinning at T&W restaurant on Hy 58

Sat, night doors open at 6pm, with meeting starting at 7pm. Numbers at the door at 6pm will depend on the service at the restaurant.Drinks and dessert at the meeting location will be ready as soon as our staff can get out of the restaurant.

Sat night will be an education event.
We will have two speakers on "How to manage a collection: ( app 1Hr or less depending on questions)


Find of the day/ door prizes

Shell Show  in Sept/Oct (Date TBA)

9 and 10 Nov Sunset Beach
Fri night  doors open 6 pm--meeting starts at 7 pm
Silent auction
Election of 2019 club officers
Shell of the meeting ( most beautiful olive)
guest speaker ( TBA)

Sat night
Oral auction only.

Two of our young ladies have agreed to put together a trip to Bull's Island in the late winter/early spring. More details will be forth coming as soon as details can be arranged.

They are also trying to put a trip together for shelling in the Naples, Fl area, again more details at a later date.

Another young lady is making arrangements for a field trip to The Calvert Cliffs in Calvert County, Md to hunt fossils. As soon as arrangements are completed, word will be passed.

Your Board has put together a program for next year that they hope will peak your interest.

Any recommendations are appreciated.  

Everett

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

42 nd NC Shell Show and Banquet
October 14-15, 2017
Wilmington, NC

Our annual shell show was postponed from September to October due to Hurricane Irma. Luckily, we were still able to have the show at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington and our awards banquet at the Riverside Hilton. Set up for the show was on Thursday, scientific exhibits in two rooms, dealers in one room and artistic exhibits in the first floor back lobby. There was 23 feet of artistic exhibits, including beautiful shell art, embroidery, and sailor’s valentines. There was 246 feet of scientific exhibits. After set up, those who were available enjoyed dinner at Elizabeth’s Pizza, along with our judges Dr. Harry Lee and Ms. Anne Joffe, both from Florida. Friday morning was exhibit set up time. Judging was from noon until 5 pm. After judging, those who could attend met at Golden Corral for dinner and fellowship. The show opened on Saturday and ran through Sunday afternoon. Despite the sunny weather (rainy days are good for museum attendance!) attendance was great. For the weekend, there were 600 paid attendees to the museum and shell show and 147 club members for the 2 days. The museum collected $3,623! Two TV stations sent reporters to the museum to interview our show chairman John Timmerman, which is awesome for our club and for the museum. Our club table sales were $1468, not including sales of club hats, pins, books, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. These monies help to fund our scholarship for marine science students at UNC-Wilmington. Our shell dealers had beautiful shells and shell related items for sale during the show: Richard Goldberg, Donald Dan, Frank Abramson, Phil Dietz, Brian Hayes, and Bennie and Emily Pokemire. There was brisk activity at our club intro sale, with membership information and the popular give away shells. John’s scavenger hunt, with special shell prizes, was a big hit with both children and adults. Judge Harry Lee was very impressed with the scavenger hunt, mentioning that he had never seen another one that was received with such enthusiasm from the public.

Our awards banquet was held Saturday night at the Riverside Hilton, the site of the 2014 Conchologists of America convention, hosted by our club. 62 people attended the banquet. We had a full program and wonderful dinner. Our two special raffle prizes were awarded to 2 lucky winners. Hazel Andress won the jewelry necklace and bracelet set and Pete Brimlow won the Australian Trumpet shell. A few extra prizes were awarded, including shell mugs to Dana Bunn and Steven Boldy and shell tea towel to Anne Joffe. Jean Newell won a beautiful Morum grande. The coveted People’s Choice award (museum visitors voted for their favorite exhibit) was won by Doug Wolfe for his self-collected exhibit “Mollusks and Shells from My Very Own Backyard”. President Everett Long welcomed our judges Dr. Harry Lee and Ms. Anne Joffe. Harold Brown introduced members of the Bosch Family: daughter Bonnie, son Paul and his wife CC, and Bonnie’s son Ron Aspar.

Son David Bosch could not attend. Their parents, the late Dr. Donald and Eloise Bosch, were long time friends of our club, as well as Honorary Club Members and avid shell collectors during their years living in Oman. Dr. Bosch was a medical doctor and Eloise was a teacher. Our newest shell show award, The Carolina’s Best Award, was dedicated to the Bosches by Everett Long and Harold Brown. The first winners of this award were Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller for their exhibit “Malacologists Important in Describing NC Marine Mollusks”. This year’s scholarship winner from UNC-Wilmington was Derrick Detweiler. He spoke briefly to the club about his research on Eastern Oysters and their relationship to water quality. Former scholarship winner Madison Lytle was awarded the first ever Bosch Scholarship ($750) to aid in her graduate studies at UNC-Wilmington. This scholarship was established to honor Dr. and Mrs. Bosch. Money obtained from the sale of their Oman shells collected over the years will fund this scholarship. Currently we have $5000 in this fund, thanks to the generosity of shellers who purchased shells and donations from the Bosch family, including a check from David and Leslie Bosch and Bonnie Bosch’s donation of her collection of Oman shells. Our guest speaker of the evening was Dr. Harry Lee, who gave an entertaining program about Morums, A to Z. This talk was especially timely given the huge prices paid for several morum specimens at the recent COA Convention in Key West: $3000, $7000, and $10,000. After his talk, Doug Wolfe ran a special auction for 4 beautiful glass covered shell cases built by the late Thomas “Van” VanLandingham, filled with nerites from the Truckner Collection. The winner, with a bid of $210, was exhibitor Phyllis Gray from Florida. Prior to dinner, a powerpoint slide presentation was shown in the absence of Graham Oliver, who was unable to attend the banquet. Graham lives in England. In his absence, and in honor of the Bosches, everyone at the banquet lifted their glasses in a toast to Dr. and Mrs. Bosch. Jean Newell read a special letter and poem from S. Peter Dance, extolling the beauty and special place in his heart for the Acteon eloisae, named for Eloise by her husband Donald. This special shell is found only in Oman. Finally, a very special announcement was given by Donald Dan, on behalf of the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel Island, Florida. Our club has qualified for and been awarded the honor of offering the Master’s Award, beginning in 2018. This premium award is offered for exhibits that have previously won a major award such as the COA, DuPont, or Abbott. Only three shell shows in the world offer this award: The Astronaut Trail Shell Show, Philadelphia Shell Show, and now the North Carolina Shell Show. Unique to our shell show, the winner of the Master’s Award will also be awarded the Bosch Trophy.

2017 North Carolina Shell Show Results:

Blue Ribbon Awards:

**A special thank you to all who sponsored awards this year!

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club Summer Meeting
May 19-20, 2017
Cedar Point, NC

Friday May 19

50 people were in attendance, including members and guests from North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Florida, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. It was so nice to see our Queen, Mary Louise Spain, this weekend. President Everett Long opened the meeting at 7:30 pm. He reminded everyone that the club is selling t-shirts, polo shirts, sweatshirts, club pins, and Hugh Porter NC shell books. He also had decorative car license plates with our club name and scotch bonnet for $20.30 each. Plate #59 is heading to Howard’s Pub on Ocracoke for display in the restaurant. Another plate is now located in the Dominican Republic at a hotel club members have visited on past shelling trips. The Saturday field trip will be to Shackleford Banks. Two boats will make the trip with 39 people. The boats will leave from the Park Service dock on Harker’s Island around 9:30 am and 10:00 am, returning at 2:45 pm and 3:30 pm. Tonight’s fun contest prize for the best shell craft was awarded to Bill Bennight. He brought jewelry made by his daughter, using shells he collected on Ocracoke in March. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan presented the Treasurer’s Report. Our balance stands at $23,766.04. These funds are used to support our annual shell show expenses, club operating expenses, newsletter production, special door prize purchases, shell show banquet expenses, and our UNC-W student scholarship fund. Susan Rotman brought several sturdy handmade shell scoops for sale for $28.00 each. There were several tables full of silent auction shells and shell related items. Bidding was brisk. Tonight’s short program topic was “How to Measure Shells” given by Dr. Doug Wolfe. Doug provided an informative handout produced by Richard Goldberg that had text instructions and photographs on how to accurately measure shells. Doug brought sample shells for demonstration. One can use large calipers and/or digital calipers that can be purchased online at reasonable prices. Doug also talked about the resurgence of the NC Shell Size records program. The history of NC size records was started in the 1960s by the late Dr. Hugh Porter. In 2016 the club published the existing size records on our webpage and we are now able to add new updates as members submit their shells for confirmation. Please check the website for instructions on how to submit shells for consideration of new records. The measurement verification committee consists of Ed Shuller, John Timmerman, and Doug Wolfe. There is also a registry of World Record sizes, kept current by Philippe Quiquandon at https://www.wrs-shells.com . A registry book is published each year for sale (approximately $70) and one can pay a fee to look up shell records on the website. It does not cost any money to submit and have shells confirmed as records by email to Mr. Quiquandon. Also you can inquire about records on the Conchologists of America list serv and usually someone who has that information will help and reply. The website address is: conchologistsofamerica.org. Another interesting story Doug presented was information about a rare species in North Carolina, the Atlantic Gooeyduck clam. He showed an intact specimen (both valves with intact ligament) that a local fisherman had dug up with his clam rake. He called Everett for help in identifying the clam. This very rare clam specimen was recently deceased, measuring 6.25”. This specimen could be only the 2 nd one ever recorded collected in NC! The 1 st specimen was mentioned by Dr. Hugh Porter. It was found in the 1950s, alive from Cape Lookout. After Doug’s program, Vice President Dora Zimmerman introduced our main speaker of the evening, Dr. Stephen Godfrey and his family: wife Chrystal and daughters Victoria and Breanna. Dr. Godfrey is the Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Maryland. He gave a wonderful program about the geology and Miocene paleontology of the Calvert Cliffs located in Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay. He showed slides of some of the fossils recovered by his team and volunteers, including ancient seashells, shark teeth, and skeletal fossils from prehistoric dolphins, whales, and even rhinos. They have even found fossilized animal waste, “poop”, scientifically called coprolites!

Thank you to Diana Yeames for bringing homemade cupcakes and everyone who brought refreshments for our meetings. Thank you to John Timmerman for providing shell door prizes. On Saturday there will be a small oral auction of shells from the Bosch Family Collection. Oman softcover shell books will be for sale for $3.00. Also available will be bagged Oman shells at set prices ranging from 25 cents to $5.00. Everett announced that he would be arranging a workday at his home in June to sort and bag shells from the Truckner Collection, that was donated to our club. They will be sold at the club table at the September Shell Show and also in November at the silent and oral auctions. The Saturday night dinner get together will be at the T & W Restaurant at 5:45 pm.

Saturday May 20, 2017

45 people attended tonight’s meeting. Several members and guests dressed up in traditional Omani clothing as part of tonight’s program: Jeannette Tysor, Alex Rotman, Victoria Godfrey, Breanna Godfrey, Ed Shuller, Daniel Minor and his children Aidan and Elodie and Everett’s grandchildren Christian, Finley and Laura. The field trip to Shackleford Banks was a lot of fun with many nice shells found by the 39 shellers. It was also a treat to see several wild ponies on the island. Shells found included moon snails, lightning whelks, knobbed whelks, augurs, huge pen shells, Nassa mud snails, olives, boring clams, and Florida fighting conchs. The Adult Find of the Day was awarded to Dan DeRemer for his live Florida fighting conchs, a very rare find in North Carolina. The Junior Find of the Day was awarded to Alex Rotman for his Knobbed Whelk and Scotch Bonnet. John Timmerman gave a short program about the New Hanover Regional Medical Center Pediatric Center, the Nunnelee Clinic. The staff is very excited that our club will be donating North Carolina shells to decorate areas of the clinic. John and club member Dr. Brady Semmel have been coordinating this effort. The new clinic will open on June 12, 2017. The clinic will be having several wall display cases made, based on designs drawn up by John. John will be contacting club members later about what shells will be needed for the displays. The main program for tonight was given by Everett Long: The Bosch Family of Oman. Dr. Donald Bosch was a missionary medical doctor and his wife Eloise was a teacher. They raised their family in Oman and lived there for many, many years. The Sultan of Oman and countrymen loved and respected the Bosch family very much. In their retirement years, the Sultan provided them with a beautiful home and staff to take care of them for the rest of their lives. When Dr. Bosch died in 2012, the country published a 25 page obituary in his honor. 400 people attended his memorial service in Oman! Mrs. Bosch died in Oman in 2016.

For our upcoming Shell Show, a new award will be presented called the Carolina’s Best Trophy. This is a premium award for exhibits that have already won a major award such as the Conchologists of America Trophy, duPont Trophy, R. Tucker Abbott Award, Pilsbry Award, Sanibel Superstar Trophy, Broward Shell Club’s Best of the Best Award, or the Master’s Trophy. More information about this award is on the club website. This year’s award will be sponsored by Everett Long and Harold Brown and will be in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Bosch. Everett had the trophy on display. It is acrylic, in the shape of our state and features our club Scotch Bonnet logo and also a color rendering of Acteon eloisae, Eloise’s Acteon, named by Dr. Bosch in honor of his wife. It is a very rare and beautiful shell endemic to Masirah Island in Oman. Harold has donated a specimen for our oral auction in November.

Tonight’s mini oral auction was conducted by auctioneer John Timmerman. It included 28 lots of shells from the Bosch Family Collection. All proceeds from the oral auction and shells for sale will support our UNC-W student scholarship fund.

*Post Script: Approximately $1600 was raised this weekend for our scholarship fund! Thanks to all who purchased shells to raise these funds.

Our next meeting will be the Shell Show September 16-17, 2017 in Wilmington. Show applications are due August 21st. See the club website for more information. http://www.ncshellclub.com/ShlShwGen.htm

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Spring Meeting
March 24-25, 2017 Ocracoke, NC

 

Friday 3-24

45 people attended tonight’s meeting at the Ocracoke Community Center. A big thank you to Susan Rotman and her son Alex for providing homemade chili for dinner at the Community Center. Susan and Alex had to leave Ocracoke early on Friday due to her father possibly fracturing his hip in a fall. We hope to have good news from Susan soon about her father’s progress. Before the start of the meeting raffle tickets were for sale for $5 for our large club raffle to be awarded during the September Shell Show Banquet. The prizes are a shell themed necklace donated by Amy Dick and a large Australian Trumpet Snail donated by Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller. Also for this meeting was a special door prize event with tickets available for 25 cents each (in addition to the free ticket given to everyone when they signed in). The door prizes included specimen shells donated by John Timmerman and Brian Hayes. Sales were brisk for both events. The silent auction tables were very popular, with shells and shell themed items. The weather today was beautiful. It was also great to see our Queen, Mary Louise Spain, in attendance. Mary Louise is 95 years young. The field trip for Saturday will be a trip out to Portsmouth Island. Two boats are available, leaving from the ferry dock area at 9 am. There will be a return boat at 1:30 pm and a second return boat at 3 pm. For anyone who would like to meet for dinner, we will meet at Howard’s Pub at 5 pm Saturday. President Everett Long welcomed members, new members, and visitors. Vice-President Dora Zimmerman introduced our speaker, Amy Howard. Amy’s family goes back several generations on Ocracoke, dating to the 1700s. She currently lives on Howard Street in Ocracoke. Amy grew up on Ocracoke and gave a wonderful program about the history of the island and interesting things that can be found on the beaches of Ocracoke besides shells. Amy’s distant relative William Howard was the 4<sup>th</sup> owner of the island. He was also possibly Blackbeard the Pirate’s Quartermaster but that cannot be definitely confirmed. Amy told some interesting stories about pirates, storms, and shipwrecks. Some of the items she has found over the years include pieces of coal from shipwrecks, shells, sea glass, pottery shards, Indian pottery and arrowheads, ceramic shards, bottles, fossils, a 50 caliber machine gun shell, and sadly, possibly human bones from shipwreck victims that had been buried out on the beaches after disasters. Ocracoke has a truly rich history that can be experienced with a trip throughout the village.

Everett mentioned the North Carolina Record Shell Sizes project worked on by Doug Wolfe and Ed Shuller. Doug and Ed are updating current records and adding to them as people bring forth new shells for consideration. Please see the webpage for the rules and procedures for submitting shells for possible new state size records. A new record was established for the True Tulip, Fasciolaria tulipa. The shell was found offshore by SCUBA on the wreck British Splendor by Ann Sommers. It measures approximately 9.5” long. Dr. Brady Semmel brought several shells for measurement and 20 of them are new state size records, including a Southern Quahog, Rough Pen Shell and Channeled Whelk. During the May meeting, Doug Wolfe will be on hand to conduct a workshop on measuring shells. Bring your hopefuls and maybe set a new state record.

In the Best Spotted Shell contest, Susan O’Connor won for her little cowrie, Cypraea erosa. It was not a large shell but packed in the most spots per surface area! Susan’s prize was a Junonia Volute, spotted of course!

Everett will order 10 club decorative license plates. The plates feature a full color Scotch Bonnet. He reminded people to check the club webpage for minutes of past meetings, shell show information, photographs, upcoming meeting information, and other shelling information. Secretary Vicky Wall read a note from our shelling friend Anne Joffe. Anne starts chemotherapy on March 27<sup>th</sup> for bladder cancer. She appreciated the card the club sent to her. She hopes to see all of us soon, hopefully at the Conchologists of America convention this August in Key West, Florida and also in September for our Annual Shell Show. A big thank you to John Timmerman for his advertising posters for this meeting. Treasurer Karlynn Morgan read the treasurer’s report. Our balance stands at $22,353.02. Everett will be having a shell packing workshop at his home on April 8<sup>th</sup> at 9 am. He has many shells from Oman that will be offered for sale at the May meeting.

Charter Member Pinky Porter will be our guest at the Shell Show Banquet in September. Pinky attended the first shell club meeting 60 years ago along with her husband, the late Dr. Hugh Porter.

Nancy Timmerman announced a possible project for our club. Wilmington will be getting a new pediatric hospital. The folks planning the hospital would like to decorate it with sealife motifs. Dr. Brady Semmel is going to be chairman of this project, which will hopefully include cases of shells on display, along with mollusk photographs. Club members are encouraged to think about loaning shells and photographs for this project. Shells and photographs will be returned on a rotating basis.

Bill Bennight took a few minutes to thank the club for our thoughts, prayers, and flowers sent to his family upon the deaths of Chury’s mother and their son’s wife Karen last month.

Saturday, March 25<sup>th</sup>

42 people were in attendance. About 32 people enjoyed dinner at Howard’s Pub.

Prior to the start of the meeting, raffle sales were brisk along with more silent auction offerings. The program of the evening was a powerpoint program given by Ed Shuller, about his shelling trip to Hawaii last April. He traveled to Hawaii with Jeannette Tysor and Everett Long. The group stayed with Ed’s cousin, who lives in Hawaii. Along with shelling trips, they also visited Pearl Harbor and other sights on Oahu.

36 people went on the field trip to Portsmouth Island. It was a beautiful day on the island. The Find of the Day was a fossil Junonia volute, found by Amy Dick. She received a shell prize from the collection of the late Alta VanLandingham. The winning shell for the Best Freak Shell contest was an amazing live collected Spider Conch, collected in Japan by Bill Bennight. This shell not only had extra spines but they were also twisted, unlike normal spider conch extensions. Bill’s prize was a pair of Tiger cowries, one normal and one a freak color form.

Queen Mary Louise Spain talked to the group about her adventures around the village on Saturday. She and Grace visited the British Cemetery and the Lighthouse. She said they saw the cutest little puppy that had pink toenails! They also had a run in with a persistent duck in the middle of the road. Mary Louise received her “Queen” title after a trip years ago to Canada. Word was out that Queen Elizabeth I would be visiting. Several tourists saw Mary Louise and thought she was the Queen! She waved at them in her best queen wave and the rest is history!

Our next meeting is May 19-20, in Cedar Point, NC. Weather permitting there will be a field trip out to Shackleford Banks. This weekend the silent auctions brought it $837. The special door prize tickets brought in $259.25 for a total of $1096.23. Thank you to all who participated. These funds help with club operating expenses, shell show expenses and add to our Scholarship Fund at UNC-Wilmington. See you in May!

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Planning Meeting

January 7, 2017

The 2017 planning meeting took place in Indian Beach, NC. Thank you to Jeannette Tysor for hosting the meeting. Present at the meeting were 11 club members: Everett Long, Karlynn Morgan, Vicky Wall, Susan O’Connor, Susan Ross, Doug Wolfe, Nancy Wolfe, Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, David Bunn, and Diana Yeames. Dora Zimmerman participated in the meeting by Skype. Following is a list of items covered during the meeting for the upcoming year:

• Nancy Wolfe presented the current financial report. Our balance stands at $22,933.03.

• Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller of the Audit Committee examined the quarterly reports, checkbook and ledgers for 2016 and reported the accounting books for the Club are in good order.

• The 4 meeting dates and locations were confirmed for 2017. Details on lodging suggestions, speakers, and field trips will be in upcoming newsletters. Meetings will be: 1. Ocracoke, March 24-25, 2017

2. Cedar Point, May 19-20, 2017

3. Shell Show, Wilmington, September 16-17, 2017

4. Sunset Beach, November 3-4, 2017

• Possible Extra Field Trips: Island in Drum Inlet in February or April; Matanzas Inlet between St. Augustine and Daytona Florida; Trip to Philadelphia for the Philadelphia Shell Club Annual Auction; Fossil Trip in Maryland. Everett will look into making arrangements for a trip to Drum Inlet. Details to follow.

• Liability Insurance coverage for next year was approved.

• Everett Long’s son-in-law donated 50 nice totebags for visitors to the shell show to use for their purchases.

• Congratulations again for Doug and Nancy Wolfe’s Honorary Lifetime Membership, which was voted upon by the club at the November 2016 meeting. Any club member can purchase a lifetime membership. Honorary Lifetime Memberships are a distinct honor determined by the club membership. Honorary Lifetime Members will be recognized in the annual Membership Booklet.

• The planning meeting for 2018 events will be held at the November 2017 meeting at Sunset Beach.

• The Club will continue to sponsor a scholarship at UNC-W. The amount given each year can vary according to what the club can donate and what other funds are donated by individuals. UNC-W will send us a report of all the gifts they receive for the scholarship. Due to the Club’s healthy financial standing, the 2017 scholarship donation will be $1500.00.

• There will be a workshop to sort out Oman shells for our silent auctions Saturday, April 8, 2017 at Everett Long’s home in Swansboro, NC, at 9 am. Anyone who can attend is welcome.

• The Truckner Estate is donating a Nerite Collection, housed in 3 display cases, for a special raffle prize at our Awards Banquet during the Shell Show weekend. This collection will be displayed during the shell show. Raffle tickets specifically for this collection will be available for sale during the shell show banquet. One lucky winner will win all the shells and the 3 display cases. This raffle is open to those attending the banquet. The Club’s other two annual raffles will have tickets sold throughout the year and one does not have to be present to win those items.

• The new Bosch Award was approved for the 2017 NC Shell Show. More details will be presented in the Shell Show Rules. This award was developed to encourage exhibits of high quality that have previously won a major “broad category” award. This award will be presented for 5 years beginning with the 2017 Shell Show. After 5 years it will be re-evaluated as to name, sponsor, and continuation. Exhibits that have received a COA Award, DuPont Award, Best of the Best from the Broward Shell Show, Sanibel Superstar Award, Sarasota Mote Award or the Master’s Trophy are eligible. Sponsors for this award for the next 5 years are Everett Long and Harold Brown.

• The location for the Shell Show Banquet was discussed. For the time being, the Banquet will be held at the Hilton Riverside Hotel in Wilmington, NC.

• The President, Treasurer, and Shell Show Chairman are the only people who can sign tax forms for people who make donations to the club for $100 or more.

• At each club meeting there will be a fun contest for the “Shell of the Meeting”. There will be different categories such as the shell with the most spots or best shell figurine. Details will be in each newsletter.

• A previous email to all members listed the Committees for 2017. Any help is appreciated from any member wishing to participate.

• Everett Long thanked the members who have sponsored a scientific award for the upcoming shell show. These sponsors have helped the club save several hundred dollars with their generosity. The various awards and sponsors will be stated in the Shell Show Rules packet. Following are the people who have sponsored awards for 2017: Susan O’Connor (NC), Greg Curry (FL), Queen Mary Louise Spain (NC), Susan Rotman (NC), Vicky Wall (NC), Karlynn Morgan (NC), Linda Sunderland (FL), Dr. Daniel Minior (NC), Dora Zimmerman (MD), Dr. Brady Semmel (NC), Everett Long (NC), and Harold Brown (SC).

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting

November 4-5, 2016 Sunset Beach, NC

In Memorium: _ Doreen Pragel and Eloise Bosch

The Club’s fall meeting was held at the Sea Trails Community Center in Sunset Beach, NC. On Friday night, 38 people were in attendance.

Prior to the start of the meeting, raffle ticket sales were brisk. The 2017 Raffle Fund Raiser features two items, an Australian Trumpet Shell, Syrinx aruanus, donated by Ed Shuller and Jeannette Tysor, and a necklace/bracelet set donated by Amy Dick. These items will be available for viewing and tickets will be sold at all club meetings. Drawings for both items will be at the Shell Show Banquet in Wilmington in September 2017. You do not have to be present to win. Activity was also brisk at the Silent Auction tables. Thanks to all who donated items for both the Silent and Oral Auctions. Along with the regular door prize free ticket, attendees could also buy additional door prize tickets for 25 cents each or 5 for one dollar for special door prize shells, including a slit shell, golden cowrie, Eloise Acteon and other uncommon shells. Club member and shell dealer Brian Hayes was very generous to sell these shells to the club at reduced prices for this special raffle. President Everett Long opened the meeting with the door prize drawing. Needless to say, the lucky winners were very happy with their choices!

Gayle Hughes introduced our guest speaker for the night, Mr. Howie Franklin. Mr. Franklin served as the Head Steward on Air Force One for 29 years, under the administrations of 5 different US Presidents. He told wonderful stories about the workings of the staff of Air Force One. He also brought copies of his new book, “Yes Sir! Mr. President” for purchase.

Business Meeting: Secretary Vicky Wall read the minutes from the September Shell Show/Meeting. Minutes were read and approved. Treasurer Nancy Wolfe gave the Treasurer’s Report and as of November 4<sup>th</sup>, our balance stands at $20,385.00. Everett Long thanked our Vice-President, Betsy Bluethenthal, for the $500 donation from her family’s charitable foundation, to the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science in honor of John Timmerman and the work he does for our annual shell show. Everett thanked Betsy Bluethenthal, Vicky Wall, Karlynn Morgan and Nancy Timmerman for their help cleaning up after the close of the shell show. He presented Nancy with a special bottle of wine for her efforts above and beyond the call of duty! Everett gave an update on our Shell Show Trophy sponsorships. New member Greg Curry from Key West, Florida, started the ball rolling with his sponsorship of the Dean and Dottie Weber Environmental Awareness Trophy. In the weeks following the show, other members offered to assume the cost of trophies and now all of our club awards for the show have sponsors. Karlynn Morgan and Bill Bennight of the election committee presented the slate of officers for 2017: President Everett Long, Vice-President Dora Zimmerman, Treasurer Karlynn Morgan, Secretary Vicky Wall, and Members-at-Large Juanita Crouch and Harold Brown. Florida member Alan Gettleman took a club license vanity plate to hang in a hotel in the Dominican Republic that club members stayed at during a shell trip in 2015. Everett said we have others for sale for $20.00. These vanity plates have North Carolina Shell Club printed on them, along with a Scotch Bonnet and series number. President Long then presented out-going officers with parting gifts in appreciation for their service to the club. He presented gifts to former members-at-large Dora Zimmerman and Ruth Drye, Vice-President Betsy Bluethenthal (commending Betsy for her family’s generous donations over the years to the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science), and Treasurer Nancy Wolfe. Nancy took on the task of Treasurer after the death of Janet Durand in November of 2007. Everett then announced the big surprise of the evening. With unanimous support of the board, the North Carolina Shell Club bestowed Lifetime Membership to Doug and Nancy Wolfe for their many years of support and service to the club. Everett presented Doug and Nancy with a certificate of appreciation. The Wolfes joined our club in 1967.

For this meeting, the “Best….” mini contest was for the Best Spiny Murex. There were many beautiful entries. Judge Karlynn Morgan picked Ruth Drye’s amazing Chicoreus cornucervi. Not only was it super spiny, many of the spines curved back onto the shell. Stay tuned to the next newsletter for the announcement of another “Best” contest for our meeting in March of 2017.

Tomorrow morning there will be a shell cleaning workshop, starting at 9:30 am, here at the Community Center. The much anticipated Oral Auction will begin at 7 pm, with auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman.

Saturday Night: 46 people were in attendance. We welcomed new members Shelly and Jim Meachum and guests Tissie Gardner, Charlotte Putnam, John and Marge Walz, Pat Sheridan and her friends Maggie and Diane, and Lawanna Stout who attended with our “Queen”, Mary Louise Spain.

Tonight’s activities included more silent auction items and the Oral Auction. A big thank you to John Timmerman for putting together the full color auction catalog that was available for view on our club website. A good time was had by all, with thanks to our great auctioneers John and Nancy. The Oral Auction total was $2183, silent auctions total was $632.50. Adding in club sales of shirts, sweatshirts and shell books, our total for the weekend was $3166.50. Thank you again for all who donated items and made purchases! The money we gain from our auctions and raffles helps to fund our annual shell show, club costs, and our scholarship at UNC-Wilmington.

The Annual Planning Meeting will be held on January 7, 2017 at 9:30 am at Indian Beach, NC. All members are invited to attend to help plan our meetings and activities for 2017. More details to follow via email.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club Annual Shell Show and Banquet,

September 17-18, 2016

In Memoriam

We are saddened to hear of the deaths of two Life Time members of the NC Shell Club:

Thomas “Van” VanLandingham

Peggy Wilkerson.

It was a wonderful, record-breaking weekend at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science. Paid attendance for the museum and our 41<sup>st</sup> Shell Show was 740+ people, up 57% from last year’s shell show weekend! We had 277 feet of scientific exhibits and 23 feet of artistic exhibits for one of our largest ever shows. A big bonus was having shell friends exhibit in the show from Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas, and Florida as well as our North Carolina exhibitors. We had dealers from Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. A big thank you to shell co-chairs John Timmerman and Karlynn Morgan and to all who helped with show set up and take down, manning the club sales tables, scavenger hunt table, and information desks. Participants and dealers commented often on how friendly our club members are and they appreciated our help immensely helping them get their wares into and out of the museum. John Timmerman’s shell scavenger hunt was a huge success. A total of 125 children and adults participated in the hunt and all were excited to receive a special shell prize. Several guests commented that they heard about the show from their schools, local stores, and also from the two billboards. Our annual banquet was held on Saturday at our 2014 COA Convention venue, the Wilmington Hilton Riverside. 64 people were in attendance. Our dinner speaker was scientific judge Paul Callomon, the Collections Manager at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He gave two entertaining programs. The first one was about humans’ attachment to things and objects and the importance of museum collections. The second was titled “Marilyn’s Skirt”. This talk referenced the famous photograph of Marilyn Monroe’s flying skirt and how it applies to the process of how mollusks build their shells.

Everyone at the banquet were hoping to win a raffle prize and we had 3 happy winners. Dr. Ron Hill won the “banquet prize” of the huge Cassis cornuta helmet shell. This was a new raffle this year for people attending the banquet. Everyone received a free ticket for the helmet shell and then one could buy additional tickets at 25 cents each or 5 for $1.00. Ticket sales were brisk. Our scholarship recipient from UNCW, Aaron Ramus, won the collection of shell books and Floridian NC shell club member Phyllis Gray won the beautiful shell cabinet filled with specimen shells. Thanks to all who purchased tickets throughout the year. All proceeds from these raffles, as well as our club sales tables and auctions help to fund our UNCW scholarship fund, which helps worthy marine biology undergraduate and graduate students in their research.

Our next meeting will be November 4-5, 2016 in Sunset Beach, NC (details to follow in the newsletter). This meeting includes our annual oral auction and silent auctions with lots of great shells and shell related items. Don’t miss out on a fun weekend! See you there!

Respectfully submitted by Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club Summer Meeting

Cedar Point, NC

May 20-21, 2016

 

Friday Night: This weekend’s meeting was held at the Western Park Community Center in Cedar Point, NC. 34 people attended Friday night’s meeting. Several members and guests traveled from afar to attend, including Alan Gettleman from Merritt Island, Florida; Brooke Selmer from Gloucester, Virginia; Dan DeRemer from Pennsylvania; Dora Zimmerman from Maryland; and Bruce Bennard from Asheville, NC. It was so good to see “Da Queen” Mary Louise Spain in attendance. Registration opened at 7 pm. Available for sale were club t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and pins. Raffle tickets were for sale for the shell book collection and miniature cabinet full of labeled shells. These prizes will be awarded in September at the Shell Show Banquet, in Wilmington, NC. An additional raffle prize for a beautiful helmet shell will take place at the banquet only for those in attendance. One does not need to be present to win the other two raffle items. President Everett Long opened the meeting at 7:30 pm. He thanked Dr. Ron Hill and Dora Zimmerman for their participation on behalf of the club at the Wrightsville Beach Elementary School Science Festival earlier this spring. They each spoke with 12 classes of K-5<sup>th</sup> grade students with 20 minute presentations about shells. We hope to be able to continue this program in the future. Friday’s fossil trip to the Martin Marietta Quarry near Maysville, NC was a success. The weather cooperated for a wonderful day of collecting. Fossils found in this area are from the Miocene (5 to 23 million years ago) and Pleistocene (2 million to 12,000 years ago) eras. John Timmerman judged the Fossil Find of the Day. Sisters Brynn and Lia Taylor won the Junior prize for their awesome shark teeth. The Adult prize went to Dora Zimmerman for her oyster drill snail. Her prize was a selection of fossil shells from Oman.

Throughout this weekend’s meetings will be Silent Auction items to bid on. Thank you to all who donated shells and other items for the silent auctions. Money from these auctions helps to fund our on-going scholarship program at UNC-W and our Annual Shell Show.

Visiting tonight were members of the Shell Belles, from Atlantic Beach, NC. They brought examples of their beautiful shell art for members to enjoy.

John Timmerman has produced a full color informational flier about the Shell Show to be distributed to local schools to all 5<sup>th</sup> grade students. Hopefully this will generate interest for these children and their families to visit the Cape Fear Museum and our Shell Show.

Thank you to all who brought “give-away” shells for Lisa Cox to distribute to visitors to the Beaufort Maritime Museum in Beaufort, NC.

Everett Long gave the Treasurer’s Report in the absence of Treasurer Nancy Wolfe. Nancy and Doug were attending the high school graduation of one of their grandsons. Our current balance stands at $19,652.75. The club’s main disbursements include our scholarship each year at UNC-G awarded to a marine biology student, shell show expenses, and annual awards banquet.

Saturday’s field trip, weather permitting, will be to Shackleford Banks. Per new park rules, each sheller is restricted to 2 gallons of shells per person, per day. Please meet at the new National park facility on Harker’s Island by 8 am. The ferry plans on leaving at 8:30 am.

Everett Long gave an update on the Bosch Family. Dr. Bosch passed away several years ago. Mrs. Bosch is now 96 years old and lives in Oman. Their son has decided to donate more shells to our club. We plan to auction many of these shells at the annual oral auction in November. Plans are in the works for a special “Oman Shell Night” with a program about the Bosch Family’s life in Oman during the 1960’s. Shells from Oman will be available for sale from 25 cents to one dollar.

Our main speaker for tonight, Dr. Stephen Godfrey, Curator of Paleontology at the Calvert Marine Museum in Maryland, has been ill and could not come to the meeting. In his absence, Ed Shuller gave a program about his and Jeannette Tysor’s first out of the country shelling trip, in 2002, to Crooked Island, Bahamas. Other shellers on the trip included Everett Long, Harold Brown, Hazel Andress and her husband. Ed and Jeannette both learned to snorkel for this trip. As it happens during most shelling adventures to the Bahamas, someone ends up having an “up close and personal” barracuda encounter…for this trip, that person was Jeannette! Ed said he knew something was going on when he found one of Jeannette’s shelling tools but she was nowhere in sight. She had dropped the tool when she saw the barracuda and swam to shore. Barracuda are not usually dangerous, but are very curious fish.That fact is hard to remember when you are the person they are curious about!

Our November meeting, including the annual Oral Auction, will be held in Sunset Beach, NC, November 4-5, 2016. On Saturday morning, shelling will be on your own. Also offered on Saturday morning will be a shell cleaning workshop, with cleaning tips and demonstrations by Everett Long, Karlynn Morgan, and Vicky Wall.

Shell Show Update: Information about the shell show is our our club webpage, ncshellclub.com. Tables set up will be on Thursday September 15<sup>th</sup> beginning around 2 pm. Any help is appreciated. Karlynn Morgan’s nephew and one of his friends will once again help us to set up the tables. We’ll need other help to put on table skirts and covers. Dealer and Exhibitor set up will be on Friday.

The club presented one of our former scholarship winners, Madison Lytle, with a graduation card and gift. Madison will be participating in oyster ecology research next year. She then plans on attending graduate school in marine biology, either in Washington State or Alaska. Madison is a current club member and helped out with our Conchologists of America Convention 2 years ago in Wilmington, when we were the host club. She spent her senior year fall semester in Alaska studying sea otters.

The club had a new contest for this meeting called “Best Red Shell”. There were many beautiful entries. Judge Alan Gettleman awarded the prize to Bill Bennight for his large white and red Spondylus (spiny oyster) shell.

Welcome to new members Brooke Selmer from Gloucester, VA; Diana Yeamez from Newport, NC; and former club member renewing his membership, Bruce Bennard from Asheville NC and Erwin, Tennessee. Bruce was a shell club member in the 1970s. We are glad to have him back.

Door prizes were awarded to conclude the evening.

Saturday Night: 36 people were in attendance. 22 people enjoyed dinner at the T & W Oyster House. 14 shellers attended the field trip to Shackleford Banks. There was a 45 minute period of rain, but then the weather cleared for a great trip. Shells collected included banded tulips, oyster drills, tusk shells, moon snails, various clams. Olives, wentletraps, and an Outer Banks favorite, red mouth Busycon carica knobbed whelks.

The speaker for tonight was Christian Commander, one of our recent scholarship winners from UNC-W. Christian is a PhD candidate in the marine biology department. He gave a program on his research concerning Predator-Prey Systems involving oysters, and also the environmental disturbances caused by nature and humans. Christian not only enjoys research, he is also interested in becoming a teaching professor someday. After his talk, Everett presented him with a club t-shirt.

It was great to have several children in attendance this weekend: Farron Cox, Olivia Reel, and sisters Brynn and Lia Taylor. Brynn and Lia attended both field trips.

Thank you to everyone who purchased raffle tickets, club items, and silent auction items.

The Find of the Day was judged by Ed Shuller and Bill Bennight. The winner was Vicky Wall for her red mouth Busycon carica knobbed whelk. Her prize was a textile cone from India.

Juniors Brynn and Lia Taylor were recognized by Everett for their shell finds, including moon snails and olive shells. Their mom, Carrie, found a beautiful Florida Fighting Conch.

Another new fun contest held this weekend was the Best Shell Craft, any source. Judge Karlynn Morgan presented the prize to John Timmerman for his whimsical oyster shell vulture he discovered on eBay. Stay tuned to the newsletter for future fun contests.

The Taylor Family (Dad, Carrie, Brynn and Lia) will be moving to Arizona upon their retirement from the Marine Corps. Everett presented Carrie with a special Scotch Bonnet. We will miss the Taylor Family.

Karlynn Morgan gave a short presentation about the Conchologists of America convention, to be held this July in Chicago (Information about the convention is on the club webpage). The North Carolina Shell Club hosted this convention 2 years ago in Wilmington. She presented information about the COA organization and annual convention. Activities include field trips (before, during, and after the convention), programs, silent and oral auctions, and the world famous Dealers’ Bourse: over 50 shell dealers from around the world selling shells, books and related items. The bourse is open the last 1 ½ days of the convention. These conventions are a wonderful opportunity to visit with other shell collectors from the United States and around the world.

Dora Zimmerman gave a short presentation about her and Dr. Ron Hill’s visit at the Wrightsville Beach Elementary School Science Festival last month. She brought along thank you notes from some students who attended their talks. Dora’s presentation was about Maryland fossils. She collected over 400 fossils to be able to give one to each child at the school!

Our next meeting will be our annual Shell Show, September 17-18, 2016 in Wilmington, NC at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science. Please check out website for information and consider attending and entering an exhibit.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Spring Meeting

Ocracoke, NC

March 18-19

The North Carolina Shell Club met on Friday March 18, 2016 at the Ocracoke Community Centerin Ocracoke, N.C. Everett Long, President, called the meeting to order at 7:15pm. There were approximately 50 members and guests present. Everett welcomed all and asked the new members and guests to introduce themselves. He welcomed the representatives from the local media and thanked them for featuring the NC Shell Club in the newspaper and on the local internet sites.

Nancy Wolfe, Treasurer, gave the Treasury report. The Minutes of the November Meeting were published on the NC Shell Club website.

Everett took a count of participants for the Saturday shell collecting trip to Portsmouth Island: 29 people signed up . It would require 2 boats and two trips . One group would report to the dock at 7:45 am and the next group at 8:15 am. All going on the trip were required to sign a release form before boarding the boats. For those not going on the trip, it was announced the Preservation Society Building would be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and was a nice way to learn the history of the area.

Everett reported that one of the judges for the NC Shell Club's Shell Show scheduled for September 17 & 18, 2016 at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington, NC was Mathilde Duffy, accomplished artist and illustrator. She will have her artwork available at the Show. The Hilton is reserved for the Shell Show Banquet. Everett showed the shell that will be offered in a special raffle only available at the banquet.

One dinner ticket will get you one raffle ticket but other tickets may be purchased at the banquet and the winning ticket will be drawn that evening. Also the menu for the banquet will be announced once we get closer to the meeting taking advantage of a price saving by choosing our menu in conjunction with a larger event happening at the Hilton the same evening.

Everett announced new trophies for the shell show and Jeannette indicated they will be available this year. Dan DeRemer was congratulated on his interesting article in the Newsletter about his favorite shell. If you have a story to tell regarding your special shell, please submit to Dora Zimmerman for publishing in future Newsletters.

Everett brought a binder with copies of the Newsletters from other Shell Clubs for our members to peruse and he commented on the exceptional quality of our Newsletters by editor Ed Shuller and our website by webmaster Karlynn Morgan.

He also reminded members we have two items for our annual raffle: four drawer chest full of shells and 20 shell related books . Tickets available at $5 each. Drawing at the Shell Show in September.

Everett reminded everyone of the silent auction that would go on both nights during the breaks. The money raised will help to fund our Scholarship in Marine Sciences at UNC -Wilmington.

John Timmerman explained the history and the need for an official NC Shell Club Logo. John with the help of a committee created 4 designs to be voted on tonight after the break. Once one is chosen it will be registered and copyrighted protected as property of the NC Shell Club. The winner was announced after the voting.

Everett reported that after a plea went out for members to participate in the Science Fair in Wilmington, NC schools, giving programs on seashells, he had response from members in Maryland and Asheboro, NC as well as others in the NC Shell Club.

The May meeting will be at Cedar Point, NC. We can have a cookout or go out to a restaurant on Saturday evening. The restaurant option won out. There will be a fossil trip on Friday to a quarry site near Maysville, NC . Hard hats and safety vests are required. Make reservation with Everett. We will have a contest on Friday night with award for the shell submitted with the most natural red color. Saturday night there will be a contest for best craft with shells (can be commercial or self-made) and we will have the find of the day award after the trip to Shackleford Island.

The Program was “Dominican Republic Shelling Trip ” by Dora Zimmerman.

Dora gave an interesting account of her first shelling trip out of the United States lead by Glenn Duffy and assisted by Randy Hooks. She had a power point presentation with wonderful pictures. The plane lands in Santo Domingo with hours of nail biting ride in cramped van through the city and on to Salinas. The street vendors come up to the windows of the vehicles tied up in traffic to sell their wares – anything from fruit, nuts to hand-produced wooden objects. She played an audio she had recorded on her cell phone of the noises which were continuous horn blowing and traffic noise. Motorcycles were everywhere and used as taxis with as many folks as they could load on one machine. Dora showed pictures of the homes in the area. Most have bars on the windows and large fences and sturdy gates.

If squatters are able to breach a home under construction – it is almost impossible to get rid of them so this protection is necessary. She showed pictures of the host hotel – Salinas , the areas of collecting: Palmar de Ocoa, La Rumbo, Punta Salinas; the pink flamingos in flight, and neighboring town of Bani where all took a day to shop and sight-see. Dora told of the millions of black sea urchins that were everywhere in the coral where they snorkeled in 3 to 6 feet of water. There was beaches to comb for shells. She showed pictures of carrier shells with black rocks, rooster conchs, chicoreus spectrum, sea fans with siminia, wentletraps, false cerith, file clams, erato, bivalves, and the Bunn loot (a table loaded with shells collected by Dana & David Bunn.) She also showed the salt flats, holding ponds, and salt piles being processed for distribution. Dora explained the stone of Larimar is found only in the Dominican Republic and was not easily found in the shops of the small towns. She showed the Larimar necklace she bought in the airport before leaving the DR. She also told about the faceless dolls who represent the four groups that comprise the history of DR: Spanish, French, African and Arawak . Dora thanked all those who helped her before, during and after her first out-of-the-country shelling trip (especially Everett) and she presented him with the “Golden Nozzle Award ” for his unique shell cleaning invention.

After the conclusion of the silent auction , Everett closed the meeting at 8:30 pm .

The Saturday night meeting began at 6:30 pm with a delicious chili dinner provided by Susan and Alex Rotman. The official meeting was called to order by President Everett Long at 7:24 pm. There were 45 members and 6 guests present. Everett first thanked Susan and Alex for providing the wonderful dinner. There were 26 members on the trip to Portsmouth. The youth find of the day was won by Lia Taylor for a complete bivalue, the Channeled Duck Clam. The adult find of the day was a tie between a nearly complete tun and an exceptional fresh dead Scotch Bonnet with an extra varix. The award was shared by Dan DeRemer and Dora Zimmerman, a brother and sister collecting team. The esteemed judge was Doug Wolfe , Resident Shell Expert.

Doug Wolfe gave a short talk on the project by the NC Shell Club of updating the List of Record Size of NC Shells started by Hugh Porter and last updated in 1983. The panel of Doug Wolfe , Ed Shuller , and Everett Long will be responsible for reviewing all shells submitted for consideration, verifying the source, location collected, and measured for accuracy. The current list of record sizes will be posted on the NC Shell Club website in the near future. He encouraged all members who may have a shell they feel may be larger than that on the current list to submit it for verification.

Everett announced the younger members had agreed to submit articles for the Shell Club Newsletter.

The Taylor girls on their first shelling experience in Ocracoke for the April issue, Sara Howland on her first auction shelling experience November 2015 for the October issue, and Alex Rotman on his first shell show exhibit experience September 2015 for the August issue.

Betsy Bluethenthal gave a short program on the rare shell Aforia circinata (Dall , 1873) a cold water species that occurs in the Bering Sea from Alaska to Japan . She also related the impact of the earthquake that created the tsunami that struck the coast of Japan at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The tsunami occurred on March 10, 2015 killing over 15,000, relocated over 229,000 residents and over 8,000 buildings collapsed. The tsunami created waves over 133 feet high and went six miles inland. Amazingly it also move the island of Japan 8 feet to the east. This disaster caused a failure in the cooling system at the Nuclear Power Plant allowing radioactive water to pour into the ocean with some still occurring. The Fukushima's fallout affects marine life from the plankton to the sediment on the ocean floor. It is not known what the exact impact will be on the marine life because this is a slow process and nature has a way of adapting. It will be years before the affect is truly known.

Everett explained there was a change in the Program this weekend as the published speaker, Karlynn Morgan was not able to be at the meeting. Instead the speaker would be Ann Sommers with the help of her husband Dave. The Program topic was “Diving for Seashells – Hatteras.” Ann stated she was a diver with 30 plus years of experience and an amateur shell collector. She works in Washington DC and with her husband runs a diving boat (the Lion 's Paw ) out of Hatteras on the weekends diving on the many shipwrecks of the coast of NC. Ann 's love of shells started when she was a child collecting shells in Ocean City, Maryland and Morehead City, NC. She learned to dive and married her dive instructor, Dave. Most people dive to take photographs, for spear fishing, and a few for shell collecting. She is inspired by her favorite shell book, “Spirals in Time” by Helen Scales. According to the book, shells are produced in growth bursts. The shapes are predestined by inheritance. Nature can influence the shell formation (food, climate, and environment.) The patterns are beautiful but have a useful purpose. The shells take from one to six years to mature. She discussed gastropods, bivalves, and cephalopods (octopus and squid.) Ann said shipwrecks were the perfect Eco system for shells. The bow is the best place to look for shells on a shipwreck. Some ships seem to attract certain shells. Ann ended her program with beautiful pictures of shells provided by her friend Marc Nathanson and she also displayed some of her favorite shells she had collected off shipwrecks.

Everett Long thanked everyone for participating in the meeting either by donation shells & items for the silent auctions, buying items, providing refreshments, helping to set up & take down the meeting room, cleaning the facility after the meeting, giving programs, and supporting the club in all the ways that make for a successful club.

After the Silent Auction was concluded the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm.

Nancy Wolfe reported we enrolled 6 new members; 4 from Ocracoke, one from Hertford , NC, one from Minnesota and a rejoin from Maryland. We also raised $417 from the silent auctions; and had income of $371 from club merchandise and dues.

Respectfully recorded and submitted by Jeannette Tysor for Vicky Wall, Secretary.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

2016 Planning Meeting NC Shell Club

January 16, 2016

The meeting was called to order by President Everett Long at approximately 9:00 am with 14 members in attendance. Those attending were: Everett Long, President; Nancy Wolfe, Treasurer; Doug Wolfe,John Timmerman, Nancy Timmerman, Susan O'Connor, Bill Bennight, Jeannette Tysor, Ed Shuller, Susan Ross, David Bunn, Hazel Andress, Mary Louise Spain, and Madison Lytle. Refreshments were furnished by Everett, Susan R, Susan O, Hazel, Jeannette, and David Bunn (coffee).

Mary Louise Spain was selected for Life Member status and presented with a large Hershey Chocolate Kiss. Life Members do not pay dues and are held in high regard for their contributions to the club.

Everett reported the recent awards won by shell club members at Florida Shell Shows.

Items Discussed:

The 2016 Membership Directory is being readied for publication by Ed Shuller. Anyone with changes to the current directory needs to get their changes to Ed as soon as possible. Also anyone not current with club dues for 2015 will be removed from the membership.

Ocracoke Meeting March 18 & 19, 2016 – Friday night program: Report on COA 2015 Convention by Karlynn Morgan. Saturday night program: Dominican Republic Shelling Trip by Dora Zimmerman. Susan Rotman will again furnish a chili meal for all members at the meeting Saturday night.

Cedar Point Meeting May 20 & 21, 2016 - Friday there will be a fossil field trip to a site in Maysville, NC. Friday night speaker will be Steven Godfrey from the Maryland Fossil Club. Friday night there will be a contest for Best Red Shell – Any red shell is eligible to enter the contest. Saturday morning – Everett has arranged for a shelling trip to the middle of Shackleford Island. There will be a shell craft contest on Saturday night. More information to be announced soon. Saturday night's speaker will be 2015 UNC-W NC Shell Club Scholarship recipient Christian Commander who will talk on his research project.

Wilmington Meeting – September 17 & 18, 2016 - Shell Show Cape Fear Museum

Will not be able to use the gift shop space as it will be used by the Museum. We will be able to set up tables on Thursday afternoon. John Timmerman, Shell Show Chairman, is working with the Museum on the Shell Show layout. Exhibit judges are Mathilde Duffy and Paul Callomon (Gary Rosenberg was not available). A room is reserved at the Hilton – Riverside in downtown Wilmington for the banquet. The deposit was authorized to be paid in the amount of $150. The banquet price will increase for 2016. There will be a special raffle for those attending the Saturday night banquet. When you pay for your banquet, you will receive one chance on the special raffle. At the banquet you will be able to buy more chances for the special raffle if you wish. Club Table needs donation of shells suitable for selling. Much discussion on the “give away” shells and related conversations with the dealers and museum staff. John is developing a plan and will report when the plan is finalized. Everett is procuring bags for the Membership Table so Nancy Wolfe can put the items she sells (T-Shirts, Sweatshirts, books, etc.) in a bag for the customer. This would be very convenient for the visitors when they visit other parts of the show. Also club members would readily see that the items had been paid for. Doug Wolfe moved to purchase a five year supply of the “Judges Special Award” ribbons to take advantage of the reduced bulk price. The motion was seconded and passed. Everett is recommending we again hire the two young men who worked last year to help with the set-up on Thursday afternoon and the take down on Sunday evening. This will be put before the board for a vote.

Ocean Isle Meeting – November 4 & 5, 2016 - Meeting location at Sunset Beach. Friday night will have a Murex contest – rules are being worked out and will be announced later. Friday night program will be Howie Franklin author of “Yes Sir, Mr. President” a steward on Air Force One. Also silent auction will be held and a preview of items for oral auction on Saturday night. Saturday night – Oral Auction. Items needed for both Silent and Oral. Give silent auction items to Bill Bennight and oral auction items to John Timmerman.

Club Field Trips were discussed. A field trip to Cumberland Island, Georgia is planned for a weekend in February when tides are the lowest. Date and details to be worked out and forwarded to membership. The date has since been set for February 20 th. Check e-mails for details.

Membership – Everett found out the Morehead City Club - “Shell Belles” a shell craft group meets at the Cedar Point Community Center (the location of our May meeting) and asked if we should invite these ladies to participate in our May Meeting by giving a demonstration of their crafts. Everett proposed that this might encourage some of their members to join our club and help expand our craft entries at our Shell Show. Everett to find out a contact person from the manager of the Community Center and proceed from there. E verett also asked if anyone was interested in participating in a Marine Science Program at high schools in Wilmington. Bill Bennight volunteered to look into this to see if it could be done.

Joint Meeting with SC Shell Club of only 6 members for the November meeting was discussed. Everett to talk to Harold Brown to see if any of the other members would like to participate. (Hazel Andress is one of the 6 members and like Harold, is also a member of both clubs – both of these members already participate in this meeting)

Liability Insurance for the Club Board was discussed. Everett has solicited several proposals for insurance for the club and the price is approximately $500 for a 1 million to 3 million dollar policy. The insurance would protect the club in case someone was hurt at a meeting, field trips, boat trips, dinners etc. The members felt this was something the club desperately needs to protect the members from possible lawsuits. Everett to procure a policy and report exactly what the policy covers and the final cost.

501(C)(3) status - The NC Shell Club is applying for a 501(C)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service. A one time fee of $400 is required. If approved, the Club will be able to offer tax credits for donations received by the club. This should encourage more substantial donations and in turn would hopefully increase the revenue of the club.

Shell Books Raffle - Susan O'Connor reported she has enough Shell Books for at least two raffles on just books.

Membership Directory - Everett proposed the Membership Directory for 2016 (due to be published soon) be dedicated to Dean Weber and to include deceased Dottie Weber. The proposal was approved.

Shell of the Quarter - Everett suggested the club have a “Shell of the Quarter.” When each newsletter comes out, there would be a shell featured. The article would be submitted by a club member about any shell that they chose. It would be up to the club member what they say about the shell; perhaps the natural history of the shell, it's use in design, why it was rare, how it reproduces, etc. It was decided that one of the members at large would have the responsibility of finding someone interested in submitting the article to the newsletter editor. Everett asked Dora Zimmerman to be responsible for this and she has agreed.

Scholarship Award - It was discussed and decided to increase the scholarship award for the year 2017 only from $500 to $750. It was noted that shell club members David & Isabel Day of Wrightsville Beach, NC contributed to the NC Shell Club Scholarship in December 2015.

Facebook Page - We now have a FACEBOOK page. Karlynn Morgan is the Coordinator and Monitor for our facebook.

Release Form - It was proposed and decided we have a release form for any and all future field trips.

Shell Show Awards - The new awards for the shell show drew some discussion. New awards added for 2016 are:

Photography Trophy – artistic category will be added

Fossil Trophy

Small Exhibit Trophy - Exhibit not to exceed 10 feet

Club Logo - An official logo for the NC Shell Club is being developed by John Timmerman. 3 choices will be brought to the membership for a vote. It will be used in advertising, letterhead, internet communications, etc.

Nominating Committee - The Nominating Committee will be chaired by Karlynn Morgan. She will be assisted by Gayle Hughes and Bill Bennight.

There being no further business – the meeting was adjourned approximately 11:30 am.

Respectfully submitted by Jeannette Tysor in the absence of Vicky Wall, Club Secretary.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting/Annual Auction
November 6-7, 2015
Sunset Beach, NC

Friday, Nov. 6:

35 people were in attendance. A big thank-you to Juanita Crouch for securing our new meeting site at the Sea Trails Community Center. This building had everything we needed, including a kitchen area, chairs and tables, and more than enough room to set up oral auction tables, silent auction tables, welcome area and seating area. Access into and out of the building was also excellent.

Old Business:

• The minutes from the September meeting/Shell Show are on the club webpage. Secretary Vicky Wall will continue to provide the minutes to webmaster Karlynn Morgan. A hard copy will be printed off and saved in the club’s “minutes notebooks” which date back to 1957. These notebooks are located in Vicky Wall’s home. If anyone should have any corrections or additions to the minutes, please bring them up at the next meeting or send them to Everett Long.

• Several club members attended the 2015 COA Convention, held last summer in Florida. A program about the convention will be given at the spring meeting in Ocracoke.

• President Susan O’Connor welcomed new members John and Jan Reeves from SC and their granddaughter Sara; Bennie and Emily Pokemire from Sanford, and guest Linda Arrington. It was so good to see “our Queen” Mary Louise Spain.

• The Treasurer’s Report was given by Nancy Wolfe. Our balance stands at $17,677.59.

• Throughout tonight’s meeting, oral auction items were available for perusal and there were 4 tables full of silent auction items for sale/bids.

 

New Business:

• COA 2016 Convention will be held next summer in Chicago. Karlynn Morgan will give a program about the 2015 and 2016 conventions at the meeting in Ocracoke.

• Vice-President Everett Long suggested that the club have two designs of the Scotch Bonnet logo; one to be used on clothing embroidery (due to the process involved with the stitching) and a more detailed design for stationary and other paper products. John Timmerman is the head of a committee consisting of Karlynn Morgan and Betsy Bluethenthal, that will make the decision on the designs.

• The planning meeting will be January 16, 2016, at Jeannette and Larry Tysor’s condo, Unit 122, Colony by the Sea, Indian Beach, NC.

• Our two raffle fund raiser items for 2016 will be awarded at the Shell Show in September 2016. One is a custom made 4 drawer cabinet measuring 16” x 10” x 10” donated by Karlynn Morgan. It is filled with over 120 boxed and identified shells. The second prize is a collection of shell books to start or add to one’s Shell Library. This collection will increase in size during the year! Tickets are $5.00 each and you do not need to be present to win. Proceeds help to fund our Shell Show expenses and our NC Shell Club Scholarship Fund that benefits students of Marine Biology at UNC-Wilmington.

Shell Show Information:

• It was recommended that we hold our awards banquet again at the Wilmington Hilton.

• The Novice Award will continue to have an award plaque but will no longer be a separate category. This award will be for an exhibit, not a single shell entry. The Novice Award (for an exhibitor who has never before entered a shell show) can be awarded to an artistic entry if there are no novices entered in the scientific part of the show.

• There will be a new award for the Best Fossil Exhibit. This trophy will be a unique design featuring an actual mollusk fossil on the award.

• There will be a new award to encourage and reward small scientific exhibits (10 feet and under).

• The Best Photography Award will be split into two awards: one for the best photography of living mollusks and one for the best photography depicting shells in arts and crafts.

• Shell Show Chairman John Timmerman proposed that the club raise the fees for dealers’ tables. After discussion, it was agreed to raise the price from $50 to $75 per table. This is the first time our club has raised table prices. Even with the rise in price, it is still considerably less that what other clubs charge for dealers’ tables. These fees help pay for shell show display table rentals.

• A $100 donation was approved to be sent to Cheryl Jacobs of the St. Petersburg Shell Club for their generous donation of the brown table cloths that we used during the shell show and oral auction. The St. Pete club did not ask for any money for the cloths. A donation was deemed appropriate for their generosity.

• The Bluethenthal Foundation once again made a donation to the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science in honor of their employee and our Shell Show Chairman John Timmerman.

The first speaker of the evening was Bennie Pokemire. Bennie, who is a Native American of Cherokee heritage, gave a very interesting program about Pre-Columbian Indian Shell Carvings (dating over 500 years ago). Over the years he has studied Indian Art and has taught himself how to create beautiful carvings based on traditional designs. He brought a display of ancient carvings and also pieces he created. Some of the shells the Indians favored for their artwork included quahog clams and whelks. We appreciated Bennie and his wife Emily coming to the meeting. Bennie had recent shoulder surgery and we hope he will be feeling 100% soon!

Our second speaker for the evening was Dr. Ron Hill, recently retired after 41 years in the medical field. His topic was one of his favorite shell families, the Slit Shells. Ron first became interested in shells when he was in the 6<sup>th</sup> grade. Like many of us, he was inspired by R. Tucker Abbott’s “little white shell book” Seashells of the World. His interest continued into adulthood after meeting our own Ms. Ruth Dixon, who was a medical secretary at Duke University Hospital, where Dr. Hill was Head Resident. They talked about shells during their breaks from work. Ron gave a brief history of slit shell discovery and taxonomy. He also brought several beautiful specimens for display. He chose this group of mollusks due to their beauty, rarity, and being a small family he hoped it would not be too difficult to acquire all the different species. He currently owns 37 species with 5 more to go. He hopes someday to travel to Honduras and ride a submersible 1500+ feet deep to collect his own slit shell. At the conclusion of his talk, his wife Janie invited everyone to have a piece of Ron’s retirement celebration cake.

The 2016 slate of Club Officers was presented and approved:

President: Everett Long

Vice-President: Betsy Bluethenthal

Secretary: Vicky Wall

Treasurer: Nancy Wolfe

Members at Large: Ruth Drye (1 year) and Dora Zimmerman (2 years)

Saturday, Nov. 7:

Registration started at 6:30pm with 35 people in attendance. There were new oral auction items on display for bids. Thank you to Juanita Crouch for her gifts of shell verses, suitable for framing, for members to take home. The much anticipated oral auction started at 7pm with assistant auctioneers Everett Long and Doug Wolfe. They filled in until the arrival of head auctioneers John and Nancy Timmerman. All 4 did a great job. Bidding was brisk, including some phone-in bids, and many items went over $50. The grand total, including proceeds from both silent auctions, was $3436.50. Thank you very much to everyone who donated items and/or purchased items this weekend. The annual auction and silent auctions are our major money makers to help pay shell show and other club expenses.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season and Happy New Year 2016!

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club Fall Meeting/Annual Shell Show

September 19-20, 2015

Our 40th Shell Show, Cape Fear Museum of History and Science

Wilmington, NC

 

This weekend was Shell Show Weekend for the NC Shell Club. The shell show was open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. Attendance was brisk both days. Children and adults enjoyed the free shell give away and also the Shell Scavenger Hunt set up by Shell Show Chairman John Timmerman. This was our 40th Anniversary Shell Show. There was approximately 200 feet of scientific exhibits and 25 feet of artistic exhibits. We had exhibitors from North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, and Massachusetts. Scientific judges were Dr. Bill Lyons and Mr. Brian Hayes. Artistic judge was Nancy Timmerman. Please check out our Facebook page for many photographs from the weekend taken by shell dealer Richard Goldberg and club members (NC Shell Club). Many club members helped in the show set up on Friday morning and breakdown on Sunday evening. During the show our Club Table had for sale shells and shell related items to help fund our UNC-W scholarship for marine biology students. Shell dealers who attended the show this year included Sue Hobbs and Phil Dietz, Richard Goldberg, Brian Hayes, Donald Dan, and Ruthie and Frank Abramson. Award winners will be listed at the end of this narrative. 

 

Saturday night’s banquet was held at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, the site of the 2014 COA National Convention. 50 people attended the banquet, including our current scholarship winner Christian Commander, a PhD student in the marine science department. His research centers around the environmental factors that affect oyster populations. He hopes to become a professor someday. 

 

President Susan O’Connor and Vice-President Everett Long thanked everyone who helped with the show set up, the exhibitors, Judges Dr. Bill Lyons, Brian Hayes, Nancy Timmerman, and clerks Betsy Bluethenthal and Harold Brown. Everett also thanked those who donated this year’s raffle prizes: Brian Hayes (beautiful Murex ramosus), Sue Hobbs/Phil Dietz (sterling silver necklace), and Amy Dick (freshwater pearl earrings). 

 

Shell Show Chairman John Timmerman announced the show award winners (listed at the end of this narrative). This year’s special one-time award was sponsored by Everett Long, the Victoria “Vicky” Wall Educational Award commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the NC Shell Show. The winner of this award was John Timmerman for his exhibit titled “Selected Components in a Shell Show Exhibit”. The speaker for the evening was Dr. Bill Lyons, who has judged over 110 shell shows! Dr. Lyons gave a very interesting talk about the genetic differences between Banded Tulip Snails. These differences in shell shape and color can be influenced by water quality and water depth. 

 

After Dr. Lyon’s talk, raffle prizes were awarded. Thank you to all who purchased tickets last year. Junior exhibitor Alex Rotman helped Everett Long with the tickets. DreanaHowe won the Murex ramosus and Susan Ross won the sterling silver necklace. On Sunday at the conclusion of the show, Susan Ross won the freshwater pearl earrings. 

 

Shell Show Awards:

 

 

Blue Ribbon Winners:

 

 

Our next meeting will be November 6-7, 2015 at the Sea Trails Community Building in Sunset Beach, NC. Please bring items for the oral and silent auctions and your checkbook!  Proceeds from the annual auctions provide funds for our Shell Show, various donations made during the year and other activities of the club. It’s also a good time to pay for 2016 club dues. 

 

Respectfully submitted, Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

May 1 & 2, 2015

Cedar Point, NC

The NC Shell Club met on Friday May 2, 2015 at the Western Park Community Center in Cedar Point, NC. The meeting was called to order by Susan O'Connor, President. There were 13 members and two guests present: Barbara Elliott and speaker, Dr. Charles Manooch. Susan turned the meeting over to Vice President Everett Long who asked Jeannette Tysor to introduce the speaker. Dr. Charles Manooch “Chuck ” graduated from Campbell College, completed his doctorate degree from NC State University. He worked as a fish biologist for the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission and for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Beaufort, NC until his retirement.

He is the author of several books and published papers. Chuck is an expert on fish and is nationally recognized for his work on the Stripped Bass. This being his topic for the evening: “Stripped Bass: A Management Success".

Dr. Manooch stated Carteret County has many resources for marine research: NOAA Research Center dating from 1899 and the Duke Laboratory dating from 1938 both located on Pivers Island. Other facilities are the Institute of Marine Sciences-UNC Chapel Hill; the NC Division of Marine Fisheries; Sea Mast-NC State University: all located in Morehead City. The NC Marine Aquarium located in Pine Knoll Shores is open to the public and serves as an education center. His expert knowledge as an ichthyologist led to his work on the recovery of the Stripped Bass population in the Roanoke River and the Albemarle Sound. The damming of the Roanoke River by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1952 let to the decline of the Stripped Bass and loss of the resources for the local fishermen in the community. Also the increase in development of the land around the lakes and rivers negatively impacted the population of the Stripped Bass. Water discharge from the Power Plants changed the natural flow and interfered with the required water levels for successful spawning seasons.

After numerous years of research and study, Dr. Manooch was instrumental in helping to develop a plan to use fish hatcheries and the restoring of the required water levels for successful spawning which has led to the comeback of the “Stripped Bass ” population. Having the reputation as a interesting and entertaining storyteller, he was asked to tell of his high school adventure (better known as “the monkey story ”) with one of his classmates and a performing monkey The funny story and much laughter concluded an excellent program. Dr. Manooch was given a NC Shell Club sweatshirt in appreciation for his participation. Everett announced Dr. Manooch had donated two of his books to the club auctions. One will be on tonight's silent auction and the other will be available at our oral auction in November.

Everett conducted the business portion of the meeting. Nancy Wolfe, treasurer, gave the May treasury report with a balance on hand of $19,292.70. The minutes of the last meeting held in Ocracoke March 19 & 20 could be seen on the club's website. Everett announced the newsletter would be sent on-line in the future to all members with e-mail addresses to save the club money on printing and postage. Those without computers or printers will still receive a printed copy by mail. It is estimated this will save the club at least $500 a year in printing and postage fees. The November Meeting in Ocean Isle will be moved from the Museum of Coastal Carolina (due to a large increase in rental fees and other requirements) to the Sea Trails Homeowners Association Club House at 201 Station Trail, Sunset Beach, NC. Everett, Ed, Bill Bennight, and J. Tysor met Juanita Crouch at this location and reserved the building for the weekend at a considerable savings. This location is approximately 4 miles from the Coastal Carolina Museum going toward Calabash. Thanks to Juanita for obtaining this very nice facility to have our November meeting.

Everett gave an update on Betsy Bluethenthal's condition. She is out of the hospital and recovering slowly. CDC in Atlanta is still looking at what “bug ” she had. John and Nancy Timmerman were absent from the meeting because of the recent passing of John's father. Everett asks all members to keep John and his family in their thoughts. Members present voted to make Karlynn Morgan's nephew and his friend non-paying members so they would qualify to help with the heavy moving required for the Shell Show set-up and take down at the Cape Fear Museum in Wilmington this September. No one can help with these tasks unless they are a NC Shell Club Member. (One of several new requirements to be implemented at the Shell Show this year.) Other locations are being researched in the Wilmington area as alternate places to hold the Annual Shell Show if it becomes necessary.

To provide adequate time to reserve locations for meetings in 2016, the club voted to hold the Ocracoke Meeting on March 18 & 19, 2016 and the Cedar Point Meeting on May 20 & 21, 2016. Everett was able to lock in both dates for 2016. The members also voted to present the Western Park Community representative with a complementary gift of $15 from the Club Treasury for setting up and taking down the room both nights and for having to stay in the facility during our meetings. It was a nice building with full use of the kitchen.

Everett apologized for having to cancel the fossil trip on Friday but it was necessary due to the unsafe condition of the mine after recent rains. It was also suggested we do so by the management of the mine. He reminded everyone they were on their own for shelling on Saturday. He took a head count of those wishing to have dinner at the T & W Oyster Bar and will make our reservation for 5:00 pm on Saturday evening. Door Prizes were awarded by Susan O and Everett Long. Susan adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm.

NC Shell Club Meeting - Saturday May 2, 2015

The meeting was called to order by Susan O'Connor, President, at 7:30 pm with 14 members and 2 guests present (Barbara Elliott and Bob Shuller, Program Speaker.) The meeting was turned over to Everett Long and Ed Shuller was asked to introduce the speaker, his brother Bob. Bob Shuller is a retired architect living in Swansboro with his wife, Ann, in her 100 year old ancestral home built by her Grandfather Richard Lee Smith. He was well known in the community as a excellent boat builder and built many of the local homes and structures. Bob's topic “Reconstruction of Swansboro 1880-1930 - A Study of a Brief History ” was a power point presentation with many old pictures, maps, and illustrations. Swansboro was on the edge of the occupation of Carteret County during the Civil War. Much of the industry of the era were destroyed: fishing ships, salt works, live stock, cotton gin, merchandise, and the interruption of basic education. In 1893 there were 259 residents of Swansboro; 5 stores, 2 churches, school house, post office, steam sawmill, several fish houses, and 2 terrapin pens. Having no roads (roads stopped in Jacksonville) the area had remained very isolated and all travel was by boats. During this time, lumber export was the major industry. Mullet fishing, clams, scallops, and oysters were a big part of the Swansboro way of life. When the lumber industry started to decline, the shell fish industries began to thrive. Oyster beds in the White Oak River go back 3000 to 4500 years. From 1910 to 1930 fisheries were the primary way of making a living in Swansboro. The little neck clams and the Diamond Back terrapins were raised for export by leasing a piece of water, building a holding pen to corral the young, holding until ready to harvest, the catch taken to Morehead City on small boats (called line boats) and then transferred to freight boats for shipping to customers in the north. In 1904 The Hotel Astor's restaurant in New York City served Diamond Terrapin for the exorbitant price of $5. A dozen sold for $75. The scallop piles that built up on the waterfront became a social gathering place for the town residents. From 1772 to 1930 the town of Swansboro developed very little due to its extreme isolation. But in 1930 the building of a bridge across the White Oak River changed everything. Roads were built from Jacksonville to Swansboro and on to Morehead City. Trucks could come into downtown Swansboro and transport goods to Morehead City and beyond. This greatly reduced the dependency on boats and opened the town up for development. The Town of Swansboro is believed to have been named to honor a prominent member of the English House of Commons. Bob Shuller took questions from the audience to conclude the presentation. Ed presented Bob with a NC Shell Club sweatshirt in appreciation for his wonderful and interesting program.

Doug Wolfe judged the two entries submitted for Find of the Day; one legal find and one illegal fossil entry. The illegal fossil was entered to “put one over on our Vice President ” which backfired when a different judge was selected. The legal find of the day went to Valerie Blanchard for a piece of beautiful white beach glass estimated to be at least 25 years old. No suitable shell entries were found on Saturday.

Door Prizes were drawn. Silent Auction concluded. Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 pm by President Susan O'Connor.

Note: The total of Silent Auctions for weekend was $268.75. Raffle ticket sales, sweatshirts and dues

accounts for another $100 in receipts.

Respectfully submitted by Jeannette Tysor in the absence of Secretary Vicky Wall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

North Carolina Shell Club Spring Meeting

Ocracoke, NC

March 20-21, 2015

Friday, March 20: 26 people attended tonight’s meeting, held at the Ocracoke Community Center. Registration started at 7 pm. On display were items available for sale including club pins, sweatshirts, shell books, and raffle tickets for this year’s raffle prizes: a sterling silver shell-shaped locket/necklace and large Murex ramosus. Raffle tickets will be available for sale at the May and September meetings with the prizes awarded during the Shell Show Banquet in September. Several tables were set up for silent auction items. Bidding was brisk all weekend.

President Susan O’Connor opened tonight’s meeting, welcoming members and guests to Ocracoke. Vice-President Everett Long talked about Saturday’s field trip to Portsmouth Island. Our usual boat captain, Rudy, was ill, but another boat captain, Erik O’Neal, would be able to take us to the island. There will be two trips over, one at 8am and the other at 8:30am. 21 people were interested in going on the trip.

New Business: Two new Shell Show trophies were displayed, the Alta VanLandingham trophy for the Best Self-Collected Exhibit (which will be awarded every year) and the Victoria “Vicky” Wall Award for the Best Educational Exhibit (this will be a one-time award in honor of our 40<sup>th</sup> Shell Show). Secretary Vicky Wall read thank you notes from Tony Bluethenthal and Karlynn Morgan, thanking club members for their cards, thoughts, and flowers during his illness and the loss of Karlynn’s mother. Pinky Porter sent the club a thank you note for the flowers sent upon Hugh’s death. Dean Weber sent a note thanking the club for the donation made in Dottie’s memory. Susan Ross was absent from this weekend’s meeting due to her daughter-in-law’s brain surgery. The Treasurer’s Report was given by Jeannette Tysor, in the absence of Treasurer Nancy Wolfe, on a trip to Mexico with husband Doug. Our balance stands at $18,783.57. Everett Long will explore having new t-shirts made with the following saying, on condition that there are no copyright issues: “Life’s too short to not go Shelling”. He gave an update on Mrs. Eloise Bosch, from her daughter Bonnie. Mrs. Bosch is now 96 years old, and lives in Oman. St. Petersburg Shell Club member Cheryl Jacobs has donated tablecloths to our club for use on our shell show tables. Karlynn Morgan is going to pick them up at this summer’s COA Convention in Florida. The cloths will be an attractive addition to the table covers we currently use for the show. Newsletter Editor Ed Shuller and Everett Long have been experimenting with putting our club newsletter online. We will continue to send out newsletters in the mail for those members who do not have internet capability. The Shell Show Exhibitor’s packet will also be put online, at a savings of $72. Copies will also be sent to the Conchologists of America list serv, Conch-L.

Club members were glad to see that Everett is doing well after his back surgery in January. Ed Shuller became a grandfather, welcoming his first grandson a few weeks ago. This year at the Shell Show in September, we will have a visitor’s log so we will have a record of visitors should we have to move our show location in the future. Everett encouraged members to contribute new material and photographs for our club web page. Historian Doug Wolfe and Webmaster Karlynn Morgan are working on updating the History section. Everett noted that having silent auction item bidding sheets completed ahead of time really helped the process. Thanks to all who brought items for the silent auctions. Everett gave an update on some recent shell thefts at a shell show in Florida. Dealer Richard Goldberg had several expensive cowries stolen from his display. The Museum of Coastal Carolina, where we hold our November meeting in Ocean Isle, is going to raise the fee we pay to use the facility, from $250 to $400. We are going to explore other locations for this meeting, possibly Topsail Island or Sunset Beach.

The first program for the evening was given by Betsy Bluethenthal. She read a letter from Dr. Ronald Hill about the roundabout way he obtained a shell on a condo informational visit. There was a shell he wanted to buy but he didn’t have the $10 at the time. Later he was awarded $20 for the condo presentation and was then able to buy that shell. The next program was given by John Timmerman. He showed slides about the cover art on Conchologist of America magazines, from 1984 to 2013. Several of the covers were art created by John. Ed Shuller then presented slides about a shelling trip he took to Key West, along with Jeannette Tysor, Everett Long, and Dr. Ed Petuch a few years ago. Everett finished the program with slides from a shelling trip to Abaco, in the Bahamas.

Door prizes were awarded to conclude the evening. Thank you to Alex Rotman for helping Everett award the door prizes.

Saturday, March 21: 24 people attended tonight’s meeting, held at the Ocracoke Community Center. Thank you to Susan Rotman who made chili for dinner. Also thank you to everyone who brought snacks to the meetings.

During registration, bidding continued on silent auction items. 20 people went to Portsmouth today. It was a little chilly but sunny so there were no complaints! President Susan O’Connor commended Steve Anderson for bringing back a huge bag of trash he picked up on the island. Prior to the program, Everett awarded extra door prizes to lucky members….homemade Chex Mix made by Susan Rotman and her son Alex. The Finds of the Day were judged by Karlynn Morgan and Everett Long. There were many nice shells found today. First place was awarded to Dora Zimmerman for her Jujubinum top shell. Second place was awarded to Hazel Andress for her Cancellaria nutmeg. Third place was awarded to Nancy Timmerman for her chama. Alex Rotman won the Junior Find of the Day with a beautiful Scotch Bonnet. The program of the evening was given by Vicky Wall and Susan O’Connor about their shelling trip to Panama this past January. Also on this trip were Charlotte Thorpe, Alan Gettleman, Everett Long, Ed Shuller, Jeannette Tysor, and Bill Bennight. Many nice shells were found on all of the trips presented this weekend.

The silent auction was concluded tonight. The monetary total will be given at the next meeting. Door prizes were awarded to conclude the evening. Thanks to all for a fun weekend.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

North Carolina Shell Club Planning Meeting

January 31, 2015

Atlantic Beach, NC

 

The 2015 planning meeting for this coming year’s club events was open to all interested members. Those attending included: Chury and Bill Bennight, Ed Shuller, Everett Long, Karlynn Morgan, Vicky Wall, Nancy and John Timmerman, Nancy and Doug Wolfe, Jeannette Tysor, Susan Ross, Susan O’Connor, David Bunn, and Mary Louise Spain.

The first topic on the agenda concerned the Shell Show, to be held September 19-20, at the Cape Fear Museum of History and Science. Due to administrative changes at the museum, there will be changes to the time schedule for dealers and exhibitors to enter and leave the show. These changes will be explained in the Shell Show Prospectus which will be made available to interested persons later this spring. The main concern will be to have enough volunteers from the club to help with setting up tables. Once the prospectus is released we hope club members will volunteer to help set up tables, man the reception and shell give away table and other jobs as they arise. The shell show committee is going to explore new venue sites in Wilmington for the show as backup should changes occur in the future at the museum that would necessitate relocating the show.

Meeting Places and Dates were then discussed. The Spring Meeting will be held in Ocracoke March 20-21. The Summer Meeting will be held in Cedar Point May 1-2. The Fall Meeting/Shell Show will be held in Wilmington September 19-20. The Winter Meeting/Annual Auction will be held in Ocean Isle, with the dates November 6-7 to be finalized soon.

Treasurer Nancy Wolfe updated us on the Treasurer’s Report. Our club balance now stands at $18,532.00

Everett Long suggested the club make a donation in memory of long-time member Dottie Weber, who recently died. Mary Louise Spain said she would contact Dean Weber to see what organization he would like to receive our club’s donation of $100.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

North Carolina Shell Club Winter Meeting

Ocean Isle, NC November 14-15, 2014

Museum of Coastal Carolina

Friday, Nov. 14: 27 people attended tonight’s meeting. At 7:30 pm President Susan O’Connor opened the meeting. Tonight was a preview of the oral auction items and silent auction #1 was open for bids.

Business Meeting: The business meeting was opened by Vice-President Everett Long. The club welcomed new members Kathy Lebash and Lynn Moore. Lynn lives in Ocean Isle and is a museum volunteer. She is also a member of the North Carolina Fossil Club. Kathy enjoys seashells and orchids. Treasurer Nancy Wolfe presented the budget report. Our balance stands at $16,715.28. The club’s largest expenses are for the annual shell show. Everett mentioned that shell show judge Alan Gettleman graciously donated his travel expenses back to the club ($350). The annual planning meeting for 2015 will be held in January. Prior to that business the Shell Show Committee will have a meeting to discuss the show budget and money saving ideas. The minutes from the September meeting were not read but are available on the club website. Any photographs or information concerning the club can be sent to our webmaster Karlynn Morgan for submission to the webpage.

The short program for the evening was given by Karlynn Morgan and Vicky Wall. They introduced the club to long-time club member Alta VanLandingham. Alta is now deceased; her husband, Van, now lives in New Mexico. Karlynn and Vicky presented a proposal to re-name the current shell show award for Best Self-Collected Exhibit in honor of Alta. Alta was an active shell collector and naturalist. Through experimentation and observation she taught herself about mollusks and their habitats. Over the years she raised generations of whelks in aquariums at her home in Ocracoke. She also ran a shell store in Ocracoke and later in the Wilmington area. Alta ran her own shell collecting tour business and introduced many club members to “real” shell collecting trips! Her destinations included Eleuthera, Grenada, Belize, Egypt, and Palau. Karlynn and Vicky related several stories about Alta as the club has many new members who had heard of her but never had the chance to meet her. The self-collected award is open to any exhibit of mollusks that is self-collected by the exhibitor…including North Carolina collections and worldwide shells. Everett Long made a motion to accept this proposal and the motion was approved. Trophy chairs Jeannette Tysor and Vicky Wall will have a trophy designed with a picture of Alta to be presented at the 2015 shell show.

Two of next year’s meetings have already been set on the calendar. The spring meeting will be held at Ocracoke March 20-21, 2015 to take advantage of lower hotel prices. The summer meeting will be held in Cedar Point May 1-2, 2015.

Bill Bennight explained how the silent auctions are conducted. There will be a silent auction for both meeting nights. Bids can be placed throughout the evening and then the ending time will be announced.

Nominating Committee Chairman Ed Shuller presented the slate of officers for 2015. In recent years the club changed the process of serving as an officer, asking that officers serve two year terms. Thus, the officers for 2015 will be the same as for 2014: President Susan O’Connor; Vice-President Everett Long; Secretary Vicky Wall; Treasurer Nancy Wolfe; Member-at-Large David Bunn. The Ward Family is rotating off as Member-at-Large. New Member-at-Large will be Betsy Bluethenthal.

The main program of the evening was given by our last year’s scholarship winner Madison Lytle. Madison is currently a junior at UNC-Wilmington studying marine sciences. She is also a North Carolina shell club member. Her interesting and timely program was about her research project of Marsh Restoration using Oyster Reefs. Her project involves community involvement of the St. James area. 40 foot long reef boundaries are created using sacks of oyster shells and other shell material. These reefs trap sand, serve as a buffer to wave action and also serve as a growing surface for new oysters and other marine organisms. As a result, new marsh grass has a better environment in which to take root and grow, eventually aiding in slowing down shoreline erosion.

Other Business: Jeannette Tysor gave an update on member Doreen Pragel. Doreen fell at the COA Convention in August. She is doing better and will be at the meeting on Saturday. Doug Wolfe will order more Hugh Porter books for future sale. A reminder that Saturday dinner will be provided by Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller to thank everyone for the successful COA Convention. Dinner will be at the beach house at 65 West 1<sup>st</sup> Street in Ocean Isle.

At the end of the meeting, Everett Long announced to the club that he will sponsor another one-time educational award for the 2015 Shell Show, which will be the club’s 40<sup>th</sup> Shell Show. He wants this award to be in honor of Vicky Wall. Vicky recently retired after 30 years as a biology teacher. She has been a member of the shell club since 1984, an officer for 27 years, and she has entered every NC shell show since 1986.

Saturday, November 15: Tonight was our annual oral auction and second silent auction for the weekend. The tables were full of shells, books, and other shell-related items. Thank you to all who donated items for the auctions. John Timmerman could not attend this meeting but thanks were extended to him for his publicity for the auction. John took photographs of various auction shells and sent out informational emails about the shells to generate interest for the auction. 23 people were in attendance plus one phone in bidder (John!). The evening started at 6:30 pm. Before the auction started, Everett remembered our #1 Bidder, Ms. Ruth Dixon. Ruth passed away in 2013. She was a long-time member of our club and loved the annual auctions. In the absence of John and Nancy Timmerman, auctioneers this year were Everett Long and Doug Wolfe. It was a very successful weekend with the oral auction and two silent auctions. The total for the weekend was $2613.50! Thank you to all who donated items and/or placed bids. Auction proceeds help the club to finance our annual shell show.

Happy Holidays to all. Stay safe.

Minutes respectfully submitted by

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minutes of North Carolina Shell Club Annual Shell Show and Quarterly Meeting

September 19-21, 2014 - The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science, Wilmington, NC

Friday September 19<sup>th</sup> was show set-up day. On Saturday the Shell Show opened at 9am and concluded at 5 pm. Included at the show were scientific and artistic exhibits and shell dealers Donald Dan, Sue Hobbs and Phil Dietz, and Brian Hayes. There were also club sales tables, the proceeds of which will benefit our scholarship program. Thank you to all who donated shells and shell related items for sale. Judges for the shell show were Charlotte Thorpe and Alan Gettleman. The Shell Show Awards banquet was held Saturday night in the Madeline Suite, Wagoner Hall, at UNC-Wilmington. 39 members and guests enjoyed a buffet dinner. Vice-President Everett Long introduced the evening’s speaker, Charlotte Thorpe. Charlotte’s program was about live mollusks from around the world. President Susan O’Connor introduced our newest scholarship recipient Kelly Cronan. Kelly is a student in the Master’s Degree Program in Geography and Geology/Paleontology at UNC-Wilmington. She is studying the life spans of mollusks such as Mercenaria clams and how they are represented in the fossil record. She does much of her field work near Beaufort, NC.

Everett Long thanked all who helped with the COA Convention held in August. He mentioned many compliments given to our club from participants in the convention. Convention Co-Chairmen Jeannette Tysor and Ed Shuller gave a brief overview of the convention: there were 204 people registered from 14 countries and 25 states. North Carolina had the most participants (50 people) followed by Florida, Texas, and California. We had the most club members participating in the convention and had the most people registered for a convention held outside Florida. Several people described our club as a “dream team” and praised the convention’s excellent planning, great programs, friendly atmosphere, great auctions and door prizes, and our visitors loved the hotel and downtown Wilmington. The Conchologists of America (COA) sponsors the convention so there is no money lost from our club. Ed reported that our club earned $500 from our sales of silicone oil, club shirts, club pins, convention pins, and club shell books. The convention oral auction featured for the first time, a full-color auction catalog created by John Timmerman and published as a donation from Donald Dan. This catalog was very well received by all who participated in the auction. The oral auction netted $14,600 (this total is the 3<sup>rd</sup> or 4<sup>th</sup> highest ever). The silent auctions netted $9200; bargain shell table $297, and book sales $1200. The money raised during the convention goes to COA for scholarship and educational programs. The club still has enameled convention pins and tote bags available for purchase. The convention banquet speaker, Charles Rawlings, donated 10 of his books featuring his photography of live mollusks for sale to benefit our club.

Jeannette gave an update on club member Doreen Praegle, who had a bad fall during the convention and broke her knee and wrist. Doreen sent a note to the club thanking us for her plant and our well wishes. She is working hard at physical therapy and is proud of her Carolina Blue cast!

Shell Show Chairman John Timmerman announced the major award winners of the shell show. A complete list of award and ribbon winners will be published in the next club newsletter. Major award winners were:

DuPont Trophy: Tom Grace

COA Trophy: Vicky Wall

Hugh Porter Award: Brady Semmel

Best Shell of Show: Doug Wolfe

Best Self Collected Shell: Tom Grace

Best Novice Exhibit: Linda Turner

Best Photography: Vicky Wall

Best North Carolina Exhibit: Brady Semmel

Best Self Collected Exhibit: Doug Wolfe

Best of Arts and Crafts Using Shells: Irmgard Cate

Best of Arts and Crafts Depicting Shells: Nancy Timmerman

People’s Choice Award: Brady Semmel

Judge’s Special Award Ribbons: Doug Wolfe, Cathy Young, and John Timmerman.

This year’s raffle prizes were donated by Sue Hobbs and Phil Dietz. Thank you to all who purchased tickets. The freshwater pearl necklace made by Phil was won by Jeannette Tysor. Ed Shuller won the Melo broderipii bailer shell.

Our last meeting of the year will be held November 14-15 at Ocean Isle, NC. The highlight of this meeting is our annual oral and silent auctions. This is our major money maker of the year for our club. Money raised from these auctions help to fund club activities such as the shell show and scholarship fund. Please bring items to donate to the auctions such as books, shells, and craft items.

**Update after the show: Our club sales tables received $908.61 and our membership table received $919.50 in sales (from memberships, banquet tickets, club shirts, sweatshirts, pins, and books). Thank you to all who donated shells and other items to the club tables. All proceeds benefit our scholarship fund at UNC-W for students in marines sciences.

Minutes respectfully submitted;

Vicky Wall, Recording Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

North Carolina Shell Club Meeting Minutes: May 16 & 17, 2014

 

The NC Shell Club met May 16, 2014 at the Emerald Plantation Club House, Emerald Isle, NC. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by President Susan O'Connor. A big thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Gerald Johnson for sponsoring the Shell Club to enable us to use their Club House for our meetings. The only cost is $40 cleaning fee and thanks to Everett Long for making all the arrangements. There were 16 members and 5 guests present. Two new members joined Friday night: Michelle Cornett-Weaver from Cedar Point and Sharon Rutan from Swansboro. They are mother & daughter and friends of Everett Long.

Everett Long introduced Rick Dove, Waterkeeper Alliance Advocate, and speaker for the evening. His topic was “The Fishable, Swimmable Waters of Eastern North Carolina. ” Rick Dove took us on a trip along the waterways of Eastern NC addressing these two issues: 1) factory farms and 2) coal ash. Eastern NC has the highest concentration of Pig Factory Farms. The Neuse River has experienced serious fish kills due to low oxygen, Pfiesteria, mold, and fungi all linked to fertilizer pollution. This is the direct result of the factory farms spraying hog waste into the rivers and streams that eventually flow into the ocean. Coal ash is the by-product of burning coal. Duke Energy Progress pumped 61 million gallons of coal ash into the Cape Fear River and is now trying to get their customers to pay for the clean up. The State of NC pretty much ignores the severity of polluting the waters of NC. According to Rick, there are 3 Laws: Moral Laws, Laws of Man, and Laws of Nature.

After the program, and during the break, more bidding took place on the silent auction items.

Business Meeting: Nancy Wolfe reported we currently have $16,448.27 in our treasury. Everett made the motion to accept the treasury report as presented, seconded by David Bunn, and motion passed. The minutes of the last meeting were published on the web site. Everett asked if there were any additions or corrections to the minutes. John Timmerman asked that the two shells won for finds of the day at the last meeting (Ocracoke) be listed in the minutes. The prizes were donated by Everett Long.

The Wolfes visited Mique Pinkerton recently and she donated $1800 worth of specimen shells to the 2014 COA Convention. Mique is now 91 years of age and doing very well. She is still living alone and very involved in a number of activities.

Everett reported he had visited numerous hotels in the Wilmington area looking for better lodging for those attending the NC Shell Club in September. The best deal is the County Inn & Suites near the Cape Fear Museum. The rate is $84 a night with a full breakfast. County Inn & Suites is very clean and especially nice but does not allow pets. We need to guarantee 12 rooms to get this rate. Contact Everett soon if you would commit to the County Inn & Suites. When Everett gets 12 commitments, he will sign the contract.

Everett announced all donations to 2014 COA Convention not used will go to future COA conventions. Everett is planning a shelling trip to the Dominican Republic in June 2015 at a cost of approx. $2000. He needs 12 to go forward. Let Everett know if you are interested.

John Timmerman gave the information on the Shell Trip for Saturday to Cape Lookout and Shackleford Banks. We must take Park Service Ferry which runs every half hour at a cost $15. It will drop us off on the east end of Shackleford Banks.

Everett Long invited everyone to meet for dinner on Saturday evening at 5:00 pm at the T&W Oyster on Highway 58.

Door prizes were awarded by Everett to conclude the meeting at 9:30 pm.

 

NC Shell Club Minutes May 17, 2014

The Saturday night meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by President Susan O'Connor. There were 19 members and 3 guests.

John Timmerman gave the Program that he plans to present at the COA Convention in August 2014. He gave a power point presentation on shelling on Shackleford Banks and North Core Banks (Portsmouth Island). John showed shells he had collected at these location and sub-fossils that he had also collected. John explained a sub-fossil as a shell that is in the stage of becoming a fossil but was not an extinct shell. He explained the conditions and situations that would allow certain shells to be found on the beach such as storms, currents, etc. After the presentation he took questions. His program was very interesting and will be well received at the COA Convention.

Doug Wolfe judged the Find of the Day and the winner was Nancy Timmerman for a juvenile Scotch Bonnet which is rarely found. She won a large box of Bivalves donated by Everett Long.

Ed Shuller & Jeannette Tysor gave an update on COA. Ed reminded members that all volunteers who work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday must pay a daily registration rate for the days they work. If they work on Saturday or Sunday, no registration rate is charge because those days are for tours only. But the hope is that all members will participate with a full registration.

Tours: Everett reports he is ready and all arrangements are made. We do need members to sign up for the Saturday evening Black River Cruise & on-board picnic. We may lose money on this tour if we do not get the required 40 people needed.

Programs: Doug Wolfe ’s slate of speakers is filled. He has 5 people signed up for the Poster Session. The buzz is that the programs are anticipated to be the best ones in a long time.

Oral Auction: John Timmerman has all his volunteers and already has the 120 items needed. As we get better items for the Oral Auction we will move others to the Silent Auction.

Silent Auction: Bill Bennight needs more workers. He has the material needed for 5 auctions and the final “Cheap Sale ” on Thursday morning. There is still more work needed to get bid sheets on auction items and ready for the start date.

Raffle: Jeannette reported she had talked to Jill and she is recruiting volunteers and will start assigning work schedules when her volunteers are complete. She plans on 6 work periods, 1 each morning, 1 each afternoon for the 3 days. 5 items have been selected. They are: a freakChicoreus ramosus donated by Donald Dan andvalued at $750; a crystal beadwork scallop by renowned NC Fashion Designer, Eric Ennis donated by Mary Louise Spain, valued at $300; a gorgeous largeShell Mirrorcreated and donated by Harold Brown, valued in excess of $200; and a lovely freshwater pearl & amethyst necklacedonated by Charlotte Thorpe, valued inexcess of $150. Everyone agrees these are some of the best raffle prizes ever offered at a COA convention.

Door Prizes: Ruth Drye has 33 items necessary to complete the door prizes. She needs one or two volunteers to help her.

Welcome Party & Banquet: The Welcome Party has a “Scotch Bonnet Fling ” theme and everyone is encouraged to wear plaid. Some are wearing the traditional Scottish kilts. Prizes created and donated by Rose Bunch will be awarded to the best outfits by Judges Mary Louise Spain and Jean Newell. Decorations are ready and entertainment will be provided by the Port City Pipers. Hazel is planning the buffet.

Banquet: Table decorations are complete and a sit-down dinner is planned. Charles Rawlings will be the banquet speaker. He will show a program featuring his photographs of living mollusks. Also during the banquet, COA Neptunea Awards will be presented by the COA president; John will award the mini shell show trophies; raffle drawings and door prizes will conclude the evening.

Registration: Ed reported we had about 70 registered already and we expect numbers to pick up from now on. We have already reached our required number of room nights to offset the use of the meeting rooms. Jeannette passed around the tote bag that comes with registration. Name badges (called Neck Wallets) have been ordered but have not yet been received.

Bourse: Everett has 18 vendors (32 tables) so far. He has his volunteers lined up. Jeannette and Ed thanked all the committee chairs, volunteers, and the members for all their support and hard work. It has really made a big difference with the planning and implementing process and everything that has been accomplished so far.

The weekend ’s Silent Auctions were completed and raised $251.50 for the treasury.There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 pm

Respectfully submitted for Secretary Vicky Wall by Jeannette Tysor

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

North Carolina Shell Club Spring Meeting: March 14-15, 2014

Ocracoke, NC

Friday, March 14: Tonight’s meeting was held in the fellowship hall of the Ocracoke Methodist Church. 24 people were in attendance. President Susan O’Connor was absent due to illness so Vice-President Everett Long opened the meeting. Treasurer Nancy Wolfe presented the Treasurer’s Report. Our balance stands at $15,996.85.

Old Business: The club still has sweatshirts, pins, raffle tickets, and shirts for sale. The Ocean Isle Museum will inform the club of dates for volunteers to help clean the shell collection there, probably in early April. At the January planning meeting the idea of raising club dues was presented. For 2015 it was approved to raise dues to $15 for an individual and $20 for a family. The auction total from November was $2155.20 which included the oral and silent auctions. Members were asked to send in photos for our club webpage, to our webmaster Karlynn Morgan.

New Business: The Saturday field trip will be to Portsmouth Island. We will leave from the Park Service dock at 9 am. The cost will be $20.00 per person. 16 members indicated interest in going on this trip. The May meeting will be held in Emerald Isle. Possible field trips include Bear Island or Shackleford Banks. Our scholarship winner from UNC-Wilmington, Madison Lytle, will be our guest speaker at the November meeting in Ocean Isle. She is very interested in helping the club during the COA Convention in August. A member made a donation of $50.00 to help defray her costs to attend the convention. The total cost is $160.00. The club voted and agreed to add the $110.00 to pay her registration in full. Everett Long offered to sponsor her attendance on the Henrietta River Trip and Ecology Trip. An email request to catalog the mollusks of North Carolina was received from the club from Ms. Jo O’Keefe. President Susan O’Connor agreed to respond to Ms. O’Keefe and inform her that the club feels that the North Carolina mollusk list has been well documented by Hugh Porter’s work and currently with the COA convention, the club cannot take on another project at this time. Members were reminded that we still need donations for the COA silent auctions but also save shells for our own auctions coming up in November. Everett Long will donate two shell prizes for tomorrow’s Find of the Day.

The main speaker for the night was Bill Bennight. His topic was “My Favorite Cones”. Bill brought several different species of self-collected cone shells and recounted stories of how he found them. He has been a diver since the 1960’s.

The silent auction was closed at the end of the meeting. Thank you to those who donated silent auction shells and door prizes for tonight’s meeting.

Saturday, March 15: Tonight’s meeting was held at the fellowship hall of the Ocracoke Methodist Church. 24 people were in attendance. Prior to the beginning of the meeting there was time for registration, silent auction bids, raffle ticket purchases and fellowship. Vice-President Everett Long opened the meeting. COA Co-Chairman Jeannette Tysor gave an update on COA preparations. The Welcome Party for the convention will be held Monday night and is titled “A Scotch Bonnet Fling”. Everyone is encouraged to wear plaid for the party. There will be small buckets on each table filled with scotch bonnets. Party-goers will be encouraged to take a shell home with them. Jeannette asked for bonnet donations for these bucket centerpieces. Also, members were reminded to wear our official teal COA club t-shirts during the week so convention goers can see us easily for help or questions.

The field trip bonnet count for today was 196! The Find of the Day entries were interesting and varied. Karlynn Morgan served as judge. 1<sup>st</sup> place was awarded to Jeannette Tysor for a gem scotch bonnet. 2<sup>nd</sup> place was awarded to Nancy Wolfe for boring clams she found in a piece of drift wood. Shell awards were donated by Everett Long.

Doug Wolfe was tonight’s speaker and he gave a slide program about his and Nancy’s recent trip to Cuba. They were part of an official bird survey group. Doug had many photos of beautiful birds of Cuba, along with some shells found along the way. The silent auction concluded this evening along with door prizes.

Respectfully submitted,

Vicky Wall, Secretary

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The NC Shell Club Planning Meeting met on January 25, 2014 at the Crystal Shores Clubhouse at 9:00 am. Those present were: Susan O'Connor: President; Everett Long: Vice-President; Nancy Wolfe: Treasurer; Doug Wolfe: Historian; Ed Shuller: Newsletter Editor; Mary Louise Spain, Bill Bennight, Betsy Bluethenthal, Wanda Collins, Mark, Stephanie, Megan and Allen Ward, Ruth Drye, David Bunn and Jeannette Tysor. Everett's wife, Nancy, provided yummy cookies, muffins, and coffee cake for all. Jeannette brought a fruit salad and Susan brought bagels, cream cheese coffee and juice. Everyone enjoyed the refreshments.

Susan called the meeting to order at 9:15 am. Everett presented Megan Ward a shell (murex) for coming from the furthest location to the meeting. Wanda Collins received the next shell selection for arriving first at the meeting. All other attendances received a shell for their participation. Everett told of the death of Secretary Vicky Wall's mother and club will send house plant by Karlynn Morgan.

Everett announced the donations of 40 shells for the COA Live Auction from the Walter Paine Collection; shells of considerable value and some very rare shells. This should be a tremendous boost to the Live Auction at the upcoming COA Convention in Wilmington NC. The COA committee will be promoting this collection and other donations in the COA magazine and by e-mail prior to the Convention. Susan discussed the NC Shell Club Committees. Susan comes off the Program Committee and is replaced by the Vice-President, Everett Long. Susan polled the Committee Members attending (as listed in the 2013 Membership Booklet) and those present agreed to serve for another year.

Nancy Wolfe gave a brief Financial Report. Although the club is in a stable financial situation (app.$15,500 in the treasury), we must be mindful of upcoming expenses and potential income. The Club has gained this status in large part due to the donation and sale of the Downing Collection which has now been exhausted. The members propose raising the membership dues from $12 to $15 for individual and $20 for family. This will be put to a vote for approval at the March Shell Club Meeting to start in the year 2015.

Everett noted he would sponsor an education award at the 50 th Anniversary of the NC Shell Show which will be in about 2 years. He also reminded members he needs more help (preferable local Wilmington members) to help disband the Shell Show on Sunday evening. Those remaining this year stayed into the late evening hours not only helping the dealers load and leave but rearranging the Museum rooms to a required layout for the activities scheduled early on Monday Morning.

The Schedule for 2014 Shell Club Meetings were discussed and the following dates approved:

March 16 & 17: Ocracoke (While this trip is possible and affordable, the group thought we should hold the meeting here at least this year)

Shelling on Portsmouth Isl.

Sephanie Ward to check on room rates (Pony Island Inn)

Jeannette Tysor to check on meeting facilities (Community Center

and Methodist Church

May 16 & 17 - Morehead City- Cedar Point, NC area (The location to be announced) - Shelling on Bear Island

September 18-20 - Wilmington, NC Cape Fear Museum of History and Science

November 14 & 15 - Ocean Isle, NC Museum of Coastal Carolina

Discussion of cleaning the shell cabinets at the Museum in exchange for a reduced rental cost ensued. The Museum would like this done before Easter if possible. Susan will be asking for volunteers. Someone suggested asking Gail Hughes (our rep with the Museum) to organize this. Susan to talk to Gail.

Doug Wolfe has some excellent shell books for sale with a portion of the sale price going to the Shell Club treasury. Several were sold at the Planning Meeting. More information with prices to be listed in the upcoming Newsletter.

Jeannette Tysor read a letter notifying the Shell Club of a $100 donation to the NC Shell Club Scholarship - UNCW from members David and Isabel Day. It was suggested the Shell Club send a thank you acknowledgment from the club to the Days. Jeannette to notify Secretary, Vicky Wall.

Doug stated he had donated some shells for a local fundraiser and was asked to furnished additional shells to the same family (Ms Ine N. Noe of Beaufort, NC) who had purchased the original donation. The family wanted to pay Doug for the additional shells but Doug suggested they make a donation to the NC Shell Club Scholarship at UNC-W which they did. This family is to receive the same acknowledgment and this information become part of our history records.

The COA Convention was discussed. Everett announced a Silent Auction work day on February 8 at the Crystal Shores Clubhouse. He asked for volunteers. Betsy Bluethenthal encouraged everyone to get involved especially the “Scotch Bonnet Fling” theme of the Welcoming Party on the first night of the Convention. Everyone is asked to wear “Scottish plaids.” There is a costume contest with 5 chances to win a “scotch bonnet” prize. More to come.

Everyone planning to attend the Convention must Register. The full registration is $160 which includes lots of perks. Some other options are available but the best value is the full registration. The Registration form and all information is on the COA website at www.conchologistsofamerica.org

A copy of the registration form will be included in the upcoming newsletter.

Ed Shuller discussed the need for volunteers to work at the Convention August 9-15, 2014 in Wilmington, NC. Sat and Sun prior to the Convention local tours are planned. COA is not making money on the tours but are offered to encourage people to get to the convention early and introduce them to the area. We need volunteers to help with the tours. Since we are not making money on the tours, members volunteering to help with the tours have to buy a tour ticket.

We also need members to help with the Silent Auction, Live Auction, Bourse, Decorating the Welcoming Party tables, the Banquet Tables, manning the Raffle Sales table, Door Prizes. We will be covering this in more depth in the newsletter and at future shell club meetings. Everett stated Harold Brown is volunteering for the Silent Auction and Wanda Collins volunteered to help set-up the Banquet. The attire for the shell club members was discussed. Shell Club members are asked to purchase the signature “Teal” shirt to wear during the Convention. Only NC Shell Club members can purchase this teal color. We want the attendees to instantly know who are the host shell club members and if they have a question or concern, they can reach out to our members. The cost of the T-Shirt is $8. and the Polo Shirt is $11. This includes the tax. This is at cost; no profit is added to these shirts. Nancy Wolfe is taking orders.

Jeannette Tysor asked the members to consider sponsoring our Scholarship Recipient, Madison Lytle, with the COA Registration as part of our Scholarship Program. Madison has expressed an interest in attending the Convention and volunteering to help the Shell Club. Everett would like her to present a program at our Ocean Isle Friday Night Meeting. Jeannette will contact Madison for more information. Report to membership at March meeting.

No further business, Meeting adjourned at 12:45 pm. Most members lunched at Jordan's Seafood Rest.

Respectfully submitted, Jeannette Tysor for Vicky Wall