www.houstonshellclub.com Volume XXVII, Issue 5 January, 2020
The Epitonium
Houston Conchology Society
January Program
We hope you can join us at 2:00 p.m. on Sun-
day, January 19th for the Houston Conchology
Society meeting at the Weekley Family
YMCA.
Ted Driscoll from the Galveston Bay Founda-
tion will give a presentation titled the “2019
Galveston Bay Report Card.” He joined the
Galveston Bay Foundation in June 2018 as
Community Engagement Coordinator. He at-
tended Texas A&M University at Galveston,
where he received a B.S. in Ocean and
Coastal Resources and a Master of Marine Re-
sources Management. Prior to GBF Ted
worked offshore as a Protected Species Ob-
server in the Gulf of Mexico and Chukchi Sea.
He has two cats, a dog, and enjoys kayaking,
fishing, and bird watching.
Anyone who wants to help with the Jamboree,
please contact Lucy and throw your hat in the
ring. We can always utilize good help in some
capacity. I have been working on the oral
auction for Jamboree now for several months
and I am very excited about the potential rev-
enue the club could make. We have the
shells, and all we need now is the interest and
the people willing to spend the money. I have
done many COA auctions over the years, and
I am willing to stack our oral auction against
many of those auctions from years past. We
have an excellent selection of shells and shell
related items that should do extremely well.
The registration forms are out and available;
Continued on page 2
President’s Message
By Dave Green
I would like to extend a Happy 2020 to all the
members of the Houston Conchology Society
with the hope that it will be a great year for
all of us. 2019 was a good year for HCS over-
all, although we lost a few good people that
will be missed, but certainly not forgotten. I
hope each one of us will strive to make 2020
an even better year and one that will be re-
membered.
One of our greatest opportunities coming up
in April is being the host club for the Texas
Sheller’s Jamboree to be held in Lake Jack-
son. Lucy Clampit has been working hard, as
always, getting things in order and tasks as-
signed to make sure all those attending walk
away with a very positive opinion of our club.
In years past, we have always lived up to the
expectations of our club and those of other
clubs around the state of Texas. Unfortunate-
ly, all of our shell clubs in Texas, and around
the United States, are getting smaller due to
members passing away or just getting out of
shell collecting altogether. It seems we are
unsuccessful in attracting new members for
some reason. It is a common problem with all
the shell clubs in Texas and the United
States. Each time we hold Jamborees, the at-
tendance always seems to get smaller. I ex-
pect the same trend this coming year. Howev-
er, lets see if we can change that trend. Talk
to people you know about the event. That in-
cludes people outside the state of Texas. May-
be we can attract a few more and start a more
positive trend.
November Minutes Submitted by Rusti Stover
The November 2019 meeting of the Houston Conchology So-
ciety was called to order by President Dave Green at 2:26 pm on
Sunday November 17, 2019 at the Weekley YMCA.
Dave welcomed everyone and noted the guest that drove the
farthest to help the club celebrate its 50th anniversary was Eric
Shepherd, President of the San Antonio Shell Club. Also present
were new members Craig Latimer and his wife Sompong. Dave
then asked for approval of the October minutes as mailed: Sandy
Clark made the motion, Mary Harris seconded, all approved.
Treasurer Angie Haneiko gave the treasurer’s report.
Dave also asked for a moment of silence for all deceased
members of the club, including our recently deceased member
Gary Olson, who passed away on October 28th.
Under Old Business, Dave mentioned the Jamboree vendor
tables are going fast. We have room for only 7 tables, one per
dealer, and there was only one left at this time. Dave also report-
ed the COA 2021 convention plans for Moody Gardens, Galveston,
are moving along nicely. Darwin Alder also mentioned that the
date for decorating the HCS Christmas Tree in the lobby of the
Houston Museum of Natural Science is Wednesday December 4th.
Tina Petway added please be there by 9 am if you wish to help,
but not before 9 am.
Dave also reminded everyone that the club Christmas Party
was scheduled for Sunday December 8th, from 1 to 3 pm at the
home of Nancy and John Mustachio. The club pays for the meat
entrée and everyone is asked to bring sides and dessert. If you
wish to participate in the gift exchange, please bring a wrapped
shell-related gift at a value of 20 dollars. Bring a gift, get a gift.
Discussion on a club field trip over the winter of 2020 was
tabled for the January meeting. Tina mentioned that the museum
is having a field trip on Saturday January 11th from Galveston
State Park to San Luis Pass; there is a fee for the field trip, but
she thought shellers might just turn out at San Luis Pass to join
in. Contact Tina for more information.
Darwin Alder mentioned upcoming programs: January will
be Galveston Bay Foundation. February will be a program by
John Haneiko. March will be a program by Bruce Neville of Texas
A&M University, College Station. The Annual Auction is part of
the Texas Sheller’s Jamboree in April of 2020, Continued on Page 3
PAGE 2 THE EPITONIUM VOLUME XXVI I , I SSUE 5
Visit HCS online at
www.houstonshellclub.com
President:
David Green
713-435-9971
Vice President:
Darwin Alder
713-256-9087
Treasurer:
Angie Haneiko
281-481-5155
Recording Secretary:
Rusti Stover
713-614-4882
Corresponding Secretary:
Lucy Clampit
713-468-0610
CALENDAR
1/19/20 HCS Meeting
2/16/20 HCS Meeting
3/15/20 HCS Meeting
4/24/20 Texas Jamboree
5/30/20 HCS Banquet
President’s message from page 1
the chairman and her
team are busy making de-
cisions on many issues
that need to be finalized,
and before you know it, we
will be in April. We are
expecting guest from other
states to attend: Louisi-
ana, Florida and North
Carolina. This is our op-
portunity to showcase
HCS.
Have a great year folks
…….and most important,
let’s enjoy it.
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Minutes continued from Page 2 and we will end
the 2019-2020 meetings season with the annu-
al banquet at the Monument Inn on Saturday
May 30th.
Announcements: Rusti Stover men-
tioned she brought along a sympathy card for
the relatives of Gary Olson, and would every-
one please sign it.
There being no further business before
the board, Mary Harris made a motion to close
the meeting, Craig Latimer seconded, all ap-
proved. The meeting was adjourned at 2:45
p.m.
Members then partook of a nice after-
noon feast of ham, potato salad, delicious sides
and desserts, and watched a program by Lucy
Clampit from photos and slides over many
years of the club, and Lucy also put together
another slide show following that, with many
photos of events, trips, and Christmas parties
through the years. Members also had brought
many photo albums for members to peruse,
and some members also brought and wore
items from past events featuring the club. Al-
lison McHenry made a special table display of
vintage club items and events, and Darwin Al-
der made “HCS 50” gold and white coaster
giveaways. A great time was had by all!
Jamboree 2020
The Jamboree Committee is busy planning
the event scheduled for April 24-26 at Jas-
mine Hall in Lake Jackson. There will be in-
teresting programs, good food, good friends,
and lots of ways to spend your money, so we
hope you are saving for it. Dave Green is
working on a fantastic oral auction. He took
a few pictures of some of the beautiful shells,
and a sampling is included in this newsletter.
On Sunday after the oral auction, Patty Hum-
bird will open her beach house for those who
would like to spend some time on the beach.
On Monday the 27th, Tina Petway will con-
duct a tour of the new Strake Hall of Malacol-
ogy at the HMNS for those who are interest-
ed. Some of the details need to be worked
out. Participants might be required to pay
museum admission and parking.
A registration form is available on the HCS
website: http://www.houstonshellclub.com/
PDFfiles/2020%20Jamboree%
20Registration.pdf.
Upcoming Texas Seashell
Events
Texas Sheller’s Jamboree April 24-26, 2020
at Jasmine Hall, Lake Jackson, TX
Seashell Searchers Shell Show
The SSS will be hosting a shell show October 9
-11, 2020 at the Lake Jackson Civic Center.
More details will be available soon.
COA Convention 2021
The 2021 convention, chaired by Dave Green,
will be June 1-5, 2021 at Moody Gardens in
Galveston, TX.
In Memoriam
Texas and Malacology/Conchology has lost
another valuable asset. Fabio Moretzshon
who worked at TA&M Corpus Christi passed
away on January 6. He had battled stage 4
lung cancer for about
a year. He presented
several programs at
HCS meetings and
was a great resource
to HMNS. His wife is
planning a Celebra-
tion of Life service in
Corpus Christi next
month. When more
information is availa-
ble, it will be shared
with members.
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Jamboree 2020
These are pictures of some of the auction items available at the 2020 Jamboree:
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Christmas Party
Many thanks to Nancy and John Mustachio for hosting the HCS Christmas Party. Those in attendance enjoyed good
food and company. Pictures are from Rusti Stover.
Christmas Tree
Wow! Darwin and his elves really outdid themselves with the Texas themed tree.
Nancy Mustachio, Georgia Mustachio, Linda Green, Victoria Craig, Angela Doucette, and Ra-
chel Zelko helped with the workshops for the tree decorations.
Sabrina, Rusti, Tina, Linda, Angela, Rachel, Allison and Nancy brought the tree to life!
My heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all who helped in any way! I have been told the tree is
magnificent! Darwin
Pictures on next page from: Allison, Darwin, & Rusti
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Christmas tree pictures:
PAGE 7 THE EPITONIUM VOLUME XXVI I , I SSUE 5
Annual New Year’s Day Beach Trip
By Cathy Betley
ROLLOVER PASS - NEW YEAR’S DAY 2020
The bridge at the pass remains, but the Historical Texas Marker has been removed. The site is
completely fenced, and the pass area closest to the Gulf has already been filled.
From the web site - Rollover Pass, Texas - Rollover Pass Is Now Closed Due to Erosion on the
Beachfront and Silting of the Intracoastal. Galveston County took control of Rollover Pass by
Eminent Domain. Filling in Rollover Pass has begun, and plans are to build a County Park and
Fishing Pier in the future.
Prior to this current project - Rollover Pass is an important landmark on the Bolivar Peninsu-
la. Smugglers used the narrow strip of land between the Gulf and Galveston Bay on the Boli-
var Peninsula long before there was a man-made channel. They rolled their ill-gotten gain
(usually packed in barrels) over from a ship on the Gulf to a waiting boat on the Bay side,
where it would be carried for distribution. During the American Prohibition, the practice con-
tinued, with barrels of liquor being rolled over the pass to waiting boats on the other side. In
1955, the pass was mechanically dredged to create a new opening between the Gulf and East
Galveston Bay. This was intended to improve ingress and egress of fish and shellfish. It was
believed that this would produce better fishing. Fishermen would agree that this was success-
ful. The pass is excellent for recreational fishing. It is a very popular location for shore-based
anglers. Every weekend finds dozens of fishermen lined up on both sides of the pass. The fish-
ing continues by lantern light at night.
Beyond the pass, Darwin and Cathy stopped at the beach access road just east of the ferry. The
water was calm as was the water at the rest of the New Year’s Day beach stops: East Beach,
the beach near Woody’s, the surfing spot east of the east jetty at Surfside, and the Quintana
Jetty. Minimal shells were found.
However, there was a minor ferry adventure during the trip. As the ferry pulled away from
the landing, the vessel drifted more than accelerated. The captain reversed and the crew
helped to get the ferry re-attached to the landing ramp. An announcement was made about a
mechanical issue that could not be repaired quickly. The ferry was about two/thirds full and
one by one the vehicles on the south side of the ferry were carefully backed up and loaded on
the next ferry at the adjacent landing to the north. Once the south side was vacant, the crew
backed out a few vehicles from the north side, but by the time our SUV had its turn, we had on-
ly to drive forward, around the bridge to the left and then board the second ferry. Only one big
truck with camper followed us to the second ferry, and we were on our way to Galveston.
A beach trip on New Year’s Day, seeing the waves, wild life (lots of hawks, two roseate spoon-
bills and a small flock of Sand Hill Cranes), and other hearty beach-goers, is always a peaceful
way to start a New Year.
HOUSTON CONCHOLOGY SOCIETY Lucy Clampit, Corresponding Secretary
10532 Hammerly Blvd.
Houston, Texas 77043
The Epitonium is published monthly August through May
and is an official publication of the Houston Conchology
Society. Items of interest concerning shells and shelling
are welcome for publication. Credit will be given to
contributors when known unless anonymity is requested.
Permission is granted for reprinting articles, provided
credit is given to The Epitonium, the writer, and the
Houston Conchology Society and a copy of the reprint is
sent to the editor of the newsletter. Editor: Lucy Clampit
10532 Hammerly Blvd., Houston, TX 77043
Phone: (713) 468-0610
E-mail: [email protected]
The Society holds regular meetings on the third Tuesday
of September, October, November, January, February and
April. There are seasonal events and a yearly shell auction
scheduled in the other months.
VISITORS WELCOME!!!
Membership year extends from June 1 through May 31.
Annual membership dues: Family $12; Single $10; Junior
(under 18) $6.
Make checks payable to Houston Conchology Society and
send to Angie Haneiko, 11407 Blackhawk Blvd., Houston,
TX 77089.
Weekley Family YMCA
7101 Stella Link Road, Houston, TXmm77025