A small part of the 1979 ASU Summer Institute in Planetary Geology included a trip to the Flagstaff area. While there we toured the U. S. Geological Survey Planetary Geology facilities, took a flight around the region to view the geology by air and had a field trip around and through Meteor Crater. The leader of the Crater field trip was Eugene Shoemaker.

            Gene first took us into the visitors' center. I remember how many of the employees there seemed to know him and he cheerfully greeted them on a first-name basis. After he talked a few minutes with the lady in charge of ticketing, we were all admitted sans tickets onto the crater rim. The crater provided an awesome backdrop for a short lecture. We then proceeded for about a quarter mile along the eastern rim, turned and went down the steep slope onto the crater floor. We proceeded along "Astronauts' Trail" to an abandoned mining venture, turned north and began the steep climb out of the crater receiving an interesting commentary from Gene at numerous brief stops along the way.

            After we emerged from the crater, we made several stops out and around the crater margins. We stopped at the side opposite the visitors' center and managed to collect a few small fragments of the Canyon Diablo Meteorite and some pieces of shocked sandstone which were said to probably contain the impact-generated mineral Coesite.

            A few months after this wonderful field trip, I was at a Geological Society of America Technical Program Committee Meeting in Boulder, Colorado. We were arranging a program of submitted papers for presentation at a forthcoming GSA Annual National Meeting in San Diego. Gene Shoemaker was one of the committee members. We greeted one another warmly and I expressed thanks for his field trip. I indicated my strong interests in planetary geology and revealed that I wished I had gone into that field. He smiled and replied with a simple question: "Well, why don't you?"

            Why didn't I? I was lost for an answer. It had never occurred to me. It was just a side interest. I had no training in that area. I didn't even have an introductory astronomy course in my background. I was already in my early 40s and halfway through my career. Hmmmmmm. Why didn't I? After pondering the question for a while, I greatly increased my efforts in that direction and within two years I began giving the first of my planetary geology lectures. After about a decade of thought and study, I launched an all-out effort to bring my views to the scientific public.

For references to the life and career of Eugene Shoemaker, click here.