Program for June Meeting

This month’s program will be Carole Marshall. The title of her program is “So You Think You Want to Write a Shell Book?” Carole has been writing a shell book on the “Seashells of Peanut Island and the Lake Worth Lagoon”, for about 12 years now and she still isn’t finished. This is a humorous tongue in cheek, informative program on the things she has learned along the way and why she still isn’t finished. There is also a lot of good information for anyone who is interested in learning about mollusks, web sites that are important for everyone to know and how technology has changed Malacology in the last 12 years. There will be a hand out on important web sites as well.

Carole has always been interested in Natural History, collecting fresh water snails along the Rock River in Wisconsin as a child, majoring in Science in High School and later learning about sea shells. Her mother started collecting shells on trips to Ft. Myers Beach in the 1960’s and Carole soon realized how many interesting stories came with the shells. At a small club she gave a talk on shells to the group during hobby night when a woman came and asked her if she would be interested in joining the Chicago Shell Club. (Her response was “They HAVE CLUBS for People who Collect Shells?) For several years Carole and her parents, John and Lorraine Landers made the trip to the city (Chicago) from the suburbs. Shortly after 1969, when her parents moved to Ft. Myers, Carole and family moved to the West Palm Beach area in 1970.
Although she swears it was extreme mental incapacity that made her do it, Carole has been President of 3 different Shell Clubs. She has written many small articles for the clubs, COA magazine and for Of Sea and Shore Magazine as well as having given talks at Jamborees, COA Conventions, at the American Malacological Society, Florida United Malacologists meetings and for many local groups and organizations. She loves to teach about shells and finds the stories about shell use from ancient times to their uses today, of endless fascination.
Carole also discovered that the stories she loves about shells, can also be found on coins and paper money and Carole has an extensive collection of paper money, coins from ancient to modern, other exonumia, poker chips, medals and trade tokens.
Hopefully you will come to the meeting, be amused, laugh a little and learn.