Date: Fri 30-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

town-clerk-Cindy-Curtis-rocks

Full Text:

Natural Curiosity : The Town Clerk's Collection Is Rockin'

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

If you count all the rocks - everything from the tiny Herkimer diamonds to the

bulky milk quartz - you will find about 200 of them displayed on and around

Town Clerk Cindy Curtis Simon's desk. Each one she points to possesses a

unique beauty; each one, a story.

"My daughter was in Arizona last year, and while she was hiking in the

mountains, she found a box of amethyst crystals. There are legends about

witches who hide boxes of crystals in the mountains. Whoever finds them [is

said to have] has all good luck," said Cindy. "She gave me one, this agate."

Some of the rocks are rough, others are highly polished. Although she buys

some stones from collectors at flea markets or at shops when she is traveling,

much of her collection is comprised of pieces found in their natural setting.

"Always, whenever I am outdoors, I look for rocks. I always have," said Cindy.

"When I was six or seven, my best friend found this prism in the woods. We

traded. ... I've had it for at least 42 years, and it's my `oldest favorite,'

although it's not a rock. That's probably where [my interest] started."

Using egg cartons to hold her collection, Cindy found rocks at home and when

the family went on vacation. She identified her new acquisitions in Rocks and

Minerals field guide, a resource she still uses today.

Fifteen years ago when Cindy became town clerk, she began to display rocks at

work. Adults researching titles and children in tow often expressed interest

in her collection. And so it grew.

"Pat Dadonna brought me these two stones from the streets of Paris. Someone

gave me these garnets from the mines in Roxbury. Jerry LaReau brought this

rock back from Saudi Arabia; Julia Wasserman gave me this rock and fossil; Ray

Corbo, who was stationed as a marine in Italy, brought this to me," Cindy

recounted. She keeps a mental list of where each rock came from and who gave

it to her.

"They are real conversation pieces. It's not an expensive hobby, it's just

neat," she said. "This rock from Italy means as much to me as a diamond

bracelet."

Why does Cindy find rocks so fascinating?

"Their beauty and variety - with just this small amount of rocks, you can see

how different each one is. There's something in the natural form you can just

enjoy looking at. It's different and universal," she said.

One day, Cindy came to the office to find a plastic bag containing a smooth

blue-green rock and a note. The note requested that the soapstone be dropped

off for the town clerk because she didn't have any in her collection. It also

stated the stone came from a mine in North Windham, Vt., which "was shipping

[the stone] to a crushing firm and using it to dust the inside of new tires."

Who left the stone is still a mystery.

Cindy has had some great tag sale finds including a large hunk of geode with a

bed of tall amethyst crystals. She's also had some disappointments that now

make for good rock tales.

"This is goldstone," she said, placing a large smooth, gold-flecked piece on

her desk. "I was all excited when I bought it at a tag sale. But then someone

told me it's fake, manmade. But he said two countries went to war over the

formula to make this."

Her shelves are lined with polished slices of geodes, a flaking burgundy stone

reminiscent of mica, a large pinkish stone (perhaps feldspar) given to her by

Alan Hermanson, unpolished jade, amethyst mined by her parents in Alaska,

obsidian, a quartz rock from Highway 91 in Vermont, two halves of the geode

she hammered open, Herkimer diamonds (mined in Herkimer, N.Y.), citrine, and a

boulder opal she bought on a recent trip to Australia.

To Cindy, rocks are somewhat "mystical" in that each one is different, often

unspectacular on the exterior but radiating beauty within. "How did this one

get formed this way?" she said, adding we could view animals and people in the

same way. "It's very puzzling," she said.

Exploring the diversity in rocks could be a lifetime pursuit. Anyone who

believes rocks are "all the same" would be surprised to see the town clerk's

peacock copper, so named for its brilliant and iridescent blues and greens, or

the desert rose, shaped and colored like rose.

"I have some very big milk quartz that came from my grandparents' dairy farm

on Rock Ridge Road," said Cindy, who has some rocks on display at home.

Although these, and all the other rocks in her collection have special

meaning, she received her "dream stone" in February of 1996 when her then beau

(now husband), Fuzzy, gave her a star sapphire as an engagement ring.