2022 Show Speaker Bios
Lauren Lamorte is VP of Trow & Holden Company, a maker of hand tools for stonework in Barre, Vermont since 1890, and has been with the company for 30 years. She handles sales and customer service and coordinates marketing and planning efforts.
Jim Pecora is a mining historian, lapidarist, jeweler, teacher, and lecturer. He is the Chief Educator of Pecora's Mica Mine Schoolhouse and the visionary behind the newly forming New England Mineral Museum. He has given numerous lectures throughout New England on hard rock mining, geology and minerals, and Native American recreated history. Jim's passion for education springs from a lifetime of collected anecdotes, stories, published works, as well as extensive field research. He enjoys expressing his artistic abilities through photography and in stone, wood, and leather, and he has a storefront on Etsy called CrystalRockArts.
Woody Thompson grew up in New Hampshire, just 14 miles from the Palermo Mine, and majored in geology at Dartmouth College. He earned his Master’s degree from the University of Vermont and Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Woody worked in Connecticut for the U.S. Geological Survey, in Antarctica for the NSF, and for the Maine Geological Survey from 1975 until his so-called “retirement” in 2014. He belongs to professional societies in the U.S. and Canada and publishes extensively on the glacial geology of Maine and the White Mountains. He is presently doing field mapping in New Hampshire for the New Hampshire Geological Survey. Woody has been an enthusiastic mineral collector and historian since childhood. He specializes in minerals from New England, the U.K., and eastern Canada. He chaired the Maine Mineral Symposium for many years and now serves as a Consulting Editor for Rocks & Minerals magazine. Woody has authored several articles for Rocks & Minerals, the most recent of which is an article on the Keyes Mica Mines of New Hampshire featured in the upcoming July-August issue, the U.K. Journal of Mines and Minerals, and three editions of the book Collector’s Guide to Maine Mineral Localities.
Henry Witte joined Trow & Holden Company in March of 2021 and has played a key role in developing and testing the company's new Fossil Hunting tools. His roles at the company include business and product development, as well as customer service and sales.
Lauren Lamorte is VP of Trow & Holden Company, a maker of hand tools for stonework in Barre, Vermont since 1890, and has been with the company for 30 years. She handles sales and customer service and coordinates marketing and planning efforts.
Jim Pecora is a mining historian, lapidarist, jeweler, teacher, and lecturer. He is the Chief Educator of Pecora's Mica Mine Schoolhouse and the visionary behind the newly forming New England Mineral Museum. He has given numerous lectures throughout New England on hard rock mining, geology and minerals, and Native American recreated history. Jim's passion for education springs from a lifetime of collected anecdotes, stories, published works, as well as extensive field research. He enjoys expressing his artistic abilities through photography and in stone, wood, and leather, and he has a storefront on Etsy called CrystalRockArts.
Woody Thompson grew up in New Hampshire, just 14 miles from the Palermo Mine, and majored in geology at Dartmouth College. He earned his Master’s degree from the University of Vermont and Ph.D. from Ohio State University. Woody worked in Connecticut for the U.S. Geological Survey, in Antarctica for the NSF, and for the Maine Geological Survey from 1975 until his so-called “retirement” in 2014. He belongs to professional societies in the U.S. and Canada and publishes extensively on the glacial geology of Maine and the White Mountains. He is presently doing field mapping in New Hampshire for the New Hampshire Geological Survey. Woody has been an enthusiastic mineral collector and historian since childhood. He specializes in minerals from New England, the U.K., and eastern Canada. He chaired the Maine Mineral Symposium for many years and now serves as a Consulting Editor for Rocks & Minerals magazine. Woody has authored several articles for Rocks & Minerals, the most recent of which is an article on the Keyes Mica Mines of New Hampshire featured in the upcoming July-August issue, the U.K. Journal of Mines and Minerals, and three editions of the book Collector’s Guide to Maine Mineral Localities.
Henry Witte joined Trow & Holden Company in March of 2021 and has played a key role in developing and testing the company's new Fossil Hunting tools. His roles at the company include business and product development, as well as customer service and sales.