Above: Kindly shoe salesman Bill Wissman will leave an empty spot at Joynes Ben Franklin in Grand Marais when he moves to Chicago to live with his daughter and her family. He has been a fixture at Joynes for 25 years and many will fondly remember his gentle demeanor and friendly smile. He is excited about spending time with his three-year-old granddaughter. Many well-wishers attended his going away party on October 11. He is pictured here with Julie (Joynes) Carlson. Left: Two giant boots with flowers and balloons greeted customers at Joynes Ben Franklin in Grand Marais on October 11, marking the party for Bill. The thank-you balloons expressed some of the fondness the community has for him.
Cook County High School graduate (class of 1972) Jeff (Jay) Vervoort has been elected a fellow of the Geological Society of America (GSA).
Vervoort is an associate professor at Washington State University (WSU). He is an expert on geothermal evolution of the Earth’s crust, and was awarded his fellowship based on his research on the composition of the earth’s crust and mantle.
The GSA was established in 1888. It is a global professional organization dedicated to advancing the geosciences and to promoting stewardship of the Earth. Vervoort was honored at an October 9 annual GSA meeting in Minneapolis.
“Growing up in Cook County certainly prepares you for the wide range of challenges and opportunities that come along in life. Many of us spent important time growing up in the woods and on the lakes on various adventures. Often these adventures turned into real adventures when things didn’t go quite as planned and you had to figure out how to get out of trouble,” said Vervoort, adding, “This helps to develop independence at an early age—something most people from Cook County have a good bit of.”
After high school Vervoort attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison where he earned a degree in zoology. He followed up with a Ph.D. in geology from Cornell University.
Summing up his field, Vervoort said, “Earth science combines physics, chemistry, math and biosciences to help us explain the natural world. It helps us understand the landscape around us; the mountains, the rivers, the lakes, the oceans, the deserts. It explains why the physical world is the way it is,” said Vervoort, adding, “That’s what I love about it.”
Vervoort specializes in radiogenic isotope geochemistry—a field of study that measures the isotopic composition of various elements to determine the age, origin and chemical makeup of ancient geological materials.
1972 CCHS graduate Jeff Vervoort was recently elected as a fellow of the Geological Society of America. Jeff is an associate professor at Washington State University. He is the son of Virgil and Nancy Lindquist, Grand Marais.
Last December Vervoort traveled to the South Pole and spent six weeks studying the Transatlantic Mountains as part of a grant funded by the Office of Polar Programs of the National Science Foundation. The New York Times published several of Vervoort’s blog entries.
At WSU, Vervoort directs the Radiogenic Isotope and Geochronology Laboratory (RIGL). Inside this high-tech clean lab, he and his research group analyze planetary materials of all kinds—everything from mud to meteorites.
In addition to working with students, Vervoort works with researchers from all over the world. Recently, he collaborated with a colleague from Lyon, France, to trace hafnium isotopes in 4 billion-year-old rock samples from the Northwest Territories in Canada.
Vervoort also teaches Introductory Oceanography, a course he created shortly after arriving at WSU in 2002.
“We track hurricanes and other contemporary news about the earth to develop an understanding of the basic principles of oceanic phenomena,” he explained.
About his foray into academics, Vervoort said, “I was fortunate to have had supportive parents that knew the importance of school and a good education and instilled in me a good work ethic. I also had several excellent teachers through high school who challenged you to do your best, sometimes challenge conventional wisdom, and to be curious about the world around us.
“These characteristics (being curious, challenging conventional wisdom, and working hard) are the best attributes that allow you to be successful at whatever you do and certainly have helped me in my professional life.”
Vervoort is the son of Virgil and Nancy Lindquist. He is married to Kathleen Ryan, an assistant professor of Interior Design at WSU. They have two children, Tyson, who is in graduate school at Montana State University in Bozeman and Kaitlin, who is an undergraduate student at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
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