2009 President Carol Hasenberg

Carol volunteered for a second presidency of GSOC largely due to the fact that she wanted to get retired amber guru and UC Berkeley professor George Poinar, living in Corvallis, Oregon, to speak to GSOC. Poinar’s talk was excellent. You can read about the talk and Poinar’s work in the June 2008 article of The Geological Newsletter entitled “A Life’s Work In Amber: Unpeeling The Amber Onion.”

2009 - CAROL HASENBERG, TRINITY, AND NICK THE CRAZY DOG

Carol’s second President’s field trip was of the overall geology of the Cascade Mountains in Oregon and the hydrology of the Deschutes River Basin. The trip’s guest leaders included Richard Conrey of Washington State University, Ken Lite of the Oregon Department of Water Resources, Todd Cleveland of Deschutes County Planning, Robert Jensen, USGS, and Richard Bartels of GSOC. The group also toured the Earth2O bottling plant in Culver, Oregon.

The photo shows Carol and her Australian shepherds Trinity and Nick, who accompanied her on a GSOC field trip to the Oregon outback in 2008.

Since her presidency Carol has remained on the board of directors and has continued to work on The Geological Newsletter, which has now become a yearly archive document. She is currently the field trip director for the society. - csh, 2024

2010 President Larry Purchase

In 1943, I was born in Pendleton, OR. My youth was spent working on my family wheat and cattle ranch. After graduation from Pendleton High School, I left for Corvallis to attend Oregon State University. In 1965, I received a BS degree in Range Management. In 1966, I was drafted into the Army, and deployed to Vietnam in 1967. After four years of active duty, I went to work for Bonneville Power Administration doing environmental work. While working at Bonneville, I became Lieutenant Colonel in the army reserves. After 42 years of Federal Service, I retired in 2008.

2010 - LARRY PURCHASE

I am married to Wenonah, and live.in Vancouver, Washington along the banks .of the Columbia River. We have two daughters, and three grandchildren.

Over the years I have always been interested in geology and fossils. I became a member of GSOC in 2006, and served as their president in 2010-2011. Other clubs I belong to are the "Ice Age Floods", North American Research Group, Oregon Archaeology Society, National Speleological Society, and Mt. Hood Rock Club.

My retirement years have been very rewarding. My GSOC and NARG fossil trips to the Oregon Coast, Columbia River Gorge, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Washington State have been great. I have had a chance to meet new friends, professors, authors, and professionals working through the universities and museums. But by far my association with members of GSOC has been the best, and I'm looking forward to many more fantastic years. Retirement has been good!

Larry’s 2010 President’s Field trip to Delintment Lake, Oregon, was a return to the site of GSOC’S first President’s field trip. He did this to commemorate GSOC’s 75th anniversary.

2011 President Rik Smoody

Rik Smoody has a MS in EE, from the days when Computer Science did not have its own department. He is a software architect and peripatetic consultant. Rik has worked for Tektronix, Sony, John Deere, AggFlow, and numerous other clients. He is a Polymath, or at least Polyscience: also a punster. Geology is one of many scientific interests. He has a commitment to education without ceilings.

2011 - RIK SMOODY

Rik reported that his President’s Field Trip was blessed with good weather, excellent speakers and gorgeous views of Mt. Rainer’s glaciers, dams and the featured topic of aggradation. The guide used for the trip, Pat Pringle’s “Roadside Geology of Mount Rainer National Park and Vicinity,” is highly recommended for anyone wanting to take a self-guided tour.

2012 President Jane Walpole

Jane Walpole planned a President’s field trip with Dr. Scott Burns as a leader. They had a tour of landslide sites on day 1 and a tour of Oregon wine terroir on day 2.

2012 - Jane Walpole

2013 President John Piccininni

Nature or a developer had placed career hints and puzzles in the vacant lot behind my boyhood home. Two large pink granite glacial erratics with thick layers of mica were more colorful than a candy   store. At 8 or 9 years old in the 1950's I didn't have a camera or a rock hammer, but I looked, poked and wondered. A short distance away, my street intersected Gun Hill Road up which George Washington's troops hauled their cannons during an early retreat from the British. The sparkling surface of a vacantlot at this intersection was Manhattan Schist. It was covered with deep glacial grooves and scratches pointing north - northeast towardnearby New England.  Another puzzle.

2013 - John Piccininni

By education I am a physical geographer with a background in geology. As an undergraduate I was in a Geology and Geography Dept. in a college within the City University of New York. Since it wasn't a large department, majors tended to take courses in both fields and at both campuses. As I moved further into geology I realized that I couldn't graduate with a double major. Lacking several math and peripheral science prerequisites for the geology degree, it would have been unwise to stay beyond four years. If I did, my Vietnam era student deferment would end immediately.

I began my graduate degree at the University of Chicago. Geomorphology was taught in my Geography Dept. as were fun courses such as Pleistocene Environments. I spent time with folks in the Geophysical Sciences Department (where J. Harlan Bretz had an office). They had funding for field trips around the country during breaks and for local trips on weekends. Soon I developed a fanatical interest in caves and karst geomorphology, and I became a lifetime member of the National Speleological Society. I grew in many ways during my travels on caving, climbing and backing trips.

In Chicago I met my wife Remy, a surgical intensive care nurse at the UC Hospitals. After 6 years in water quality programs at EPA's Regional office, we moved to Portland. We live in a 100+ yr. house on the Alameda Ridge and have two adult children. For nearly 30 years I worked for BPA as a surface and ground-water quality specialist in environmental, hazardous waste, and Fish & Wildlife programs. While in the hazardous waste program, I benefited from the excellent hydrogeology training courses offered by the National Ground-Water Association.

As a new GSOC member I didn’t know many local geologists. Past GSOC presentations appeared to focus on the Columbia River Basalts, Ice Age Floods and local geologists. Most GSOC members were not geologists and probably lacked a broad historical geology context. So, as Vice President, I invited a range of geographical geology presentations. Other guest speakers covered relevant topics including landslides, earthquake hazards, and shale gas production.

2014 President Sheila Alfsen

I was born in Chicago, Illinois; my father was a physician in Chicago’s Loop and my mother had been an entertainer and involved in community development before raising a family. Unfortunately, she left this life far too early, and as a result my family moved across the country a couple of times. I had the chance to travel within the United States and observe the differences in locations on both sides of the continent.

2014 - Sheila Alfsen

My young adult life was spent high in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon where I grew a subsistence garden, raised livestock and rode horses. I became a certified farrier and dreamed one day of riding the Pacific Crest trail from Mexico to Canada. After marriage, I raised two stepsons and gave birth to three children. I was deeply involved in my children’s education, and planned one day, when they were older, to go back to school to become a teacher.

I always had a fascination and love for the natural world, so my first geology class was a real eye opener! For the first time, all the questions I had pondered regarding the landscapes and oceans were answered. I realized that I could still enjoy places for their natural beauty, but understanding their geologic history and formation greatly deepened my appreciation. I have the privilege of introducing many high school and college students to the geologic wonders of this remarkable planet!

My initial involvement with GSOC gave me the chance for continued professional development; attending lectures and field trips as well as opportunities to know and work with many geologists. As vice president I was able to continue the quality of presentations we were accustomed to. As president, I answered requests for school presentations and developed outdoor programs for children. Our President’s Field Trip was a time slice of the Oligocene environments on each side of the Cascades. We celebrated GSOC’s eightieth birthday during my office with a banquet that featured renowned plate tectonics expert, Tanya Atwater.

Upon completing my year as the president of GSOC, I was made the outreach coordinator and can continue fulfilling our mission as a speaker and educator. It has been an honor to serve the Geological Society of the Oregon Country!

2015 President Janet Rasmussen

2015 - Janet Rasmussen

I first began coming to GSOC meetings over 20 years ago. Right away I knew had found “my people.”

Now, a second term as GSOC President has allowed me to pursue several goals made easier by having previous experience in the office. One goal was to increase our membership by speaking out at our Friday evening meetings to encourage and welcome newcomers. There have been more new members than ever due to social media outreach. A second was to get more involvement from Portland State University Geology Department, in part by seeking speakers from the retiring, current and new faculty members. Both of these goals succeeded.

A third goal was to lead a field trip to one of our most remote areas of the state. I contacted many geologists who had worked in SE Oregon, but none were available to come so far—though many were tempted. Instead, they offered support and technical advice, even unpublished material, from which I could compile a field guide and lead the trip myself. I had not learned so much since getting my degree, and it was a great pleasure to make several scouting trips to the area as well. Local folks were very helpful as well and generous with their time and expertise. Bonds were forged with local residents of SE Oregon as well, which will only strengthen with time.

GSOC is a source of wealth: friendship, adventure, travel, and the latest science.

Historical note from Carol Hasenberg in 2024:

This was Janet’s second term as president of GSOC. The highlight of this presidential term was the President’s field trip to Steens Mountain area in September 2015. Shown is a picture of Janet on that trip.

2016 President Bo Nonn

2016 - Bo Nonn

Bo Nonn planned a President’s field trip to the Oregon coast which was much enjoyed by the participants. He also addressed the GSOC annual banquet with his experiences climbing all 16 High Cascades Peaks. Refer to the May/June 2017 issue of The Geological Newsletter for a description of the talk.

-Carol Hasenberg, 2024

2017 President Rik Smoody

2017 - Rik Smoody

Rik took a second term as president in 2017, and due to his interest in many disciplines of science, he decided to plan a president’s field trip to the path of totality for the 2017 total solar eclipse. The location of the camp was at a member’s home in Mill City, near Detroit Lake. This location also afforded opportunities for day trips to the Opal Creek and McKenzie Pass areas.

-Carol Hasenberg, 2024

2018 President Paul Edison-Lahm

2018 - Paul Edison-Lahm

The focus of Paul’s presidency was strengthening GSOC’s volunteer base and community connections, especially our longstanding relationship with the PSU Geology Department and the professional geology community beyond — as well as establishing ties with other geoscience and outdoors organizations.

One of Paul’s earlier projects in outreaching to potential GSOC members was to establish an informal meetup hour on the fourth Saturday of the month at a local restaurant near his home in the Woodstock neighborhood. Here people were asked to come and bring interesting rocks to discuss with the group. He advertised this group on the GSOC website and the social media platform Meetup.

During Paul’s presidency, Paul worked to establish closer ties with college students from Portland State University (PSU) and his alma mater, Reed College. During this period, he met an enthusiastic student named Andrew Dunning. Andrew had wanted to study geology ever since his parents took him on family vacations to Death Valley. He was still in his lower undergraduate years at PSU when he started making geology education/travel videos available on the internet.

During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Paul’s meetup group morphed into an online geology forum, and Andrew Dunning was a key element in its success. Geology Talk, as it was originally called, featured Dunning doing a 20-minute Geology News broadcast outlining interesting geologic events which had transpired around the world in the past month. Other programming on Geology Talk included short talks by invited speakers that ranged between professional geologists, society members, and students.

After the COVID lockdown subsided, the Meetup program was reestablished, and the Geology Hour (formerly Geology Talk) was continued. These programs broaden the depth of programming for GSOC and have maintained contact with the students of PSU. Andrew Dunning has left PSU with his master’s degree, and other student moderators and presenters have taken his place.

Paul also worked to establish ties to GSOC’s sister organization Central Oregon Geoscience Society, or COGS, based in Bend, Oregon. GSOC has done several joint field trips with COGS. Paul’s presidential field trip in 2018 to Camp Hancock is one example of that collaboration, as part of the program included a get together of GSOC participants and COGS members at the Clarno Palisades for a picnic and a walk through the fossil-laden palisades lahar deposits.

The Camp Hancock trip also was a collaboration with another group with which Paul had long-term ties, the Rose City Astronomers. Participants in this field trip got to attend geology hikes and lectures by day and watch the stars by night. Geology sessions were led by John Day Fossil Beds National Monument geologist Dr. Nicholas Famoso, and also Dr. William Orr, emeritus from University of Oregon and Karyn Patridge, a researcher studying volcanology in the John Day area. Paul’s lavish field trip guide included all of these items and a historic review of the work of Lon Hancock, a world-renown amateur paleontologist of the John Day and Clarno formations (and a former GSOC president). Refer to the article “Camp Hancock and John Day Basin Field Trip – A Fond Memory,” in the November/December 2018 issue of The Geological Newsletter for a recap of that amazing trip.

Another of Paul’s projects geared towards attracting prospective members into the society was reinstituting geological tours of the downtown buildings in Portland. Paul researched the stone used in many of the downtown buildings and trained a group of society members to lead small groups in the tour. One of the tour offerings attracted 80 participants! Paul still does these tours on occasion.

Paul also created a biking tour of the east bank of the Willamette River with DOGAMI geologist Ian Madin, and that tour has been run several times as well.

Paul Edison-Lahm has not finished his creative communication and outreach work with GSOC. As of 2024, he has remained the Communications Director for GSOC and continues to accomplish amazing results for the society’s mission.

-Carol Hasenberg, 2024

2019-2020 President Sheila Alfsen

Sheila’s second term as president came when the society was making radical changes to its board of directors. The society’s bylaws were changed to a model for the presidency in which the president could stay in office for 1-2 years plus one year on the board as Past President. The rest of the board consisted of a secretary, a treasurer, five managing directors, and two members at large. The Vice President position was removed.

2019-2020 – Sheila Alfsen

So Sheila stayed in office for two years. And what interesting two years it turned out to be! Along with the changes in the structure of the board of directors, the board decided to find a membership platform to manage events, members and member dues, and we found it in Wild Apricot, a Canadian based company whose platform worked well for our non-profit group.

Newly elected treasurer Barbara Stroud and Paul Edison-Lahm did the lion’s share of the work in converting GSOC membership data into the new platform. They did an outstanding job, and the platform went operational in January 2020.

Then in January and February of 2020, reports were coming in of a pandemic starting to bloom. In February the first Oregon cases were being reported, and our annual banquet was scheduled for March 8. After weeks of struggling with the decision to have the banquet and the risks to members that it would pose, Sheila decided at the last minute to pull the plug on it. Shortly thereafter the COVID-19 lockdown officially began.

The board of directors was very concerned that the lockdown was going to be the end of the society. However, reports were coming in about using online meeting software to do presentations. And there was the example of Nick Zentner from Central Washington University broadcasting live from his backyard on YouTube. Soon the board of directors were meeting on Zoom. Sheila thought that she could do a pilot presentation on Zoom and we could monitor the response. She did a pilot GSOC meeting on April 18, 2020, titled “Assembling Oregon Geology,” a project she had been putting together for outreach talks, and as this was a success, then she began lining up speakers for online meetings. Since no one knew how long the lockdown would last, this would ensure some continuity in the club’s existence until in-person meetings could be resumed.

The lockdown online meetings were the beginning of a new era for the society, and instead of being a detriment, they actually boosted the society’s range, membership, and depth.

What a great legacy to leave as president!

-Carol Hasenberg, 2024

2021-2023 President Clark Niewendorp

2021-2023 - Clark Niewendorp

Clark Niewendorp is a 25-year resident of Oregon and a retired geologist with a wealth of experience. His educational background includes a B.S. in Geology from Southeast Missouri State University and an M.S. from Western Michigan University. Beginning his career as a mine geologist in 1980, he gained experience in the Kentucky-Tennessee oil fields, environmental consulting, and a decade with the South Carolina Geological Survey. In 1999, he relocated his family to Oregon and retired in 2018 after 19 years with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Since his retirement, Clark has been on the GSOC board of directors for five years, leading the group for three of those years.

Historical note from Carol Hasenberg, 2024:

After Sheila Alfsen’s presidency, Clark Niewendorp became president of GSOC, and his was the task of navigating the society out of the COVID pandemic and into what we feel is a new golden age. During the first couple years of the COVID pandemic the membership at GSOC had nearly doubled, as well as the geographical range of the members.

As many improvements to the GSOC business workings had been made during the previous 3 years, the focus to the presidency was to maintain the quality of the online meeting productions, resume the production of quality field trips and eventually to resume in-person meetings with hybrid technology. An incredible amount of time at board meetings was spent discussing issues like microphone quality, lighting, relations and communication with PSU staff, and the like. Numerous test runs were conducted to ensure that the meetings ran smoothly with minimal technical issues. We would like to recognize the hard work that Sheila Alfsen, Paul Edison-Lahm, Carole Miles, Gary Joaquin and Barbara Stroud put into making production quality a priority.

Also during this time the board started discussing creating our own scholarship fund for PSU geology students. Originally the board favored naming this fund after Oregon pioneer geologist Thomas Condon, but after Bev Vogt passed in 2021, it was decided to honor her memory by naming the fund after her.

Clark also organized and led a number of excellent field trips during and after his presidency. He used his experiences as a geological mapper for DOGAMI and as a mining engineer to develop field trips to Table Mountain, Quartzville mining district, Clackamas River Basin, Wasco County, and Detroit Lake. He also has done 2 Friday night lectures for GSOC - “The Oregon Gold Rush” in 2021 and “The Iron Dream” in 2022.

Clark has often said that he owes the success of his presidency to the very strong and cooperative team that was the GSOC Board of Directors during his term. We felt in our turn that Clark was an outstanding captain of that team.

-Carol Hasenberg, 2024