Memorial to Quentin Dreyer Singewald 1902-1987 WALLACE D. AND DOROTHEA WYCKOFF LOWRY 607 Rose Avenue, Blacksburg, Virginia 24060 When the Geological Society of America wrote asking us if we would prepare a memorial to Quentin Singewald, we were delighted, for he was a very special person to us ever since our college days in the late thirties and early forties. As his many friends knew, he was the younger brother of Joseph T. Singewald, professor of economic geology at Johns Hopkins University for many years. Quentin was bom in Baltimore on September 28, 1902. He received his B.S. in geology from Johns Hopkins in 1922 and his Ph.D. from that institution in 1926. Prior to receiving the doctorate, he worked summers (1921-1923) for the U.S. Geological Survey doing reconnaissance geologic mapping of petroleum and coal areas in the , studying the Cretaceous-Eocene contact in New Mexico, , and Wyoming, and mapping in the Tonopah quadrangle, Nevada. Upon completing his graduate studies he participated in the Johns Hopkins Ellsworth Expedition, which first mapped ore deposits in the headwaters of the Amazon River in Brazil and Peru. His work involved the preparation of a detailed cross section of the Andes of central Peru. Independently he made a petrographic study of igneous rocks from that area for inclusion in the Ellsworth report. Following work as a geologist with the Trans Continental Petroleum Company of Mexico in 1926-1927, he joined the faculty of the Colorado School of Mines as an assistant professor. In 1929 he left to join the faculty of the Department of Geology at the University of Rochester. In 1931 he was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America; B. S. Butler, Edward W. Berry, and Harold L. Ailing were his sponsors. In 1942 he left the University of Rochester and began a career of dedicated and distinguished service with the U.S. Geological Survey that would span more than 30 years. In the period 1942 to 1946 he led a mission to Colombia to assess its mineral resources. The mission’s work also included special short-term studies of mineral deposits in Bolivia and Venezuela. In the spring of 1946, he was assigned by the U.S. Geological Survey to the General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Tokyo, as chief of the Mining and Geology Division, Natural Resources Section. The Mining and Geology Division was staffed almost entirely by USGS geologists assigned to General Headquarters by the Military Geology Branch. The division’s function was to assess the mineral resources of Japan and to help get the Japanese mineral industry on its feet. While in Tokyo he met his future wife, Mary Boardman, who, as a former WAC with the Signal Corps, had been assigned to General MacArthur’s headquarters. Quentin and Mary were married June 28,1952, and as Sam H. Patterson, a former associate of Quentin Singewald, wrote recently, “Quentin and Mary were great people, and it is a darn shame they didn’t get together and tie the knot 25 years sooner.” In 1948, Quentin became the assistant branch chief of the USGS Mineral Deposits Branch and served in that capacity until 1952, when as regional geologist, he was made supervisor of the newly established Northeast District Office of the Mineral Deposits Branch, with headquarters in Beltsville, Maryland. In 1955 the southeastern U.S. area was added to his responsibilities. 103 104 THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA In 1960-1962, Quentin was technical advisor to the International Cooperation Administration and served as professor and advisor in the Institute of Applied Geology at the University of Istanbul, Turkey. While he was there, an uprising took place; bullets broke windows in the room on campus where he was lecturing. While in Istanbul, Quentin and Mary enjoyed the privileges of the American officers* club, and it is said that Quentin became a fan of belly dancing. Upon their return to the United States, Quentin went to work as a research geologist based at the USGS Beltsville office. He retired in 1974 when the Survey’s new headquarters were established in Reston, Virginia. However, he continued to work on his Colorado studies at home. Allen Heyl, one of Quentin’s Survey associates, thinks highly of the study by Quentin and B. S. Butler of mineral deposits in the near Alma, Colorado, published as Bulletin 911 of the USGS in 1941. Also according to Heyl, the geologic map of the Mount Tyndall quadrangle, Custer , Colorado, by Quentin and Maurice R. Brock, is one of the most detailed maps ever published by the Survey. Many of Quentin’s Survey friends recall his supervision of the mapping of thorium deposits in the Wet Mountains of Colorado. That study was begun in the early fifties when thorium was considered a possibly important source of nuclear fuel. While in charge of the Beltsville office, he and Mary entertained that group at Christmas parties at their home in Silver Spring, Maryland. It is said everyone had a good time; as Allen Heyl reported, “Mary was a great cook; Quentin was a great host.” After retiring, Quentin donated his professional library, which included his brother’s complete sets of Economic Geology and the Bulletin of GSA and AAPG, to Ricker College in Maine. That college declared a Quentin Singewald Day in recognition of his contribution, and he and Mary were feted that day. Besides being a Fellow of GSA, Quentin was a member of the Society of Economic Geologists, American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Mineralogical Society of America, American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Geological Society of Washington, and the Hopkins Club. Mary Singewald died of cancer in August 1984. Quentin died unexpectedly August 1,1987, in Florida where he and Mary had a winter home. As his friend Henry Bell of the Survey wrote, “Quentin was a kind and gentle man, and I have fond memories of him.” We certainly do, and we are sure he and Mary are missed by many others. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF Q. D. SINGEWALD 1941 (and Butler, B. S.) Ore deposits in the vicinity of the London fault, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 911,74 p. 1942 Alma district, Colorado, in Newhouse, W. H., ed., Ore deposits as related to structural features: Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, p. 93-95. ____Stratigraphy, structure, and mineralization in the Beaver-Tarryall area, Park County, Colorado, a reconnaissance report: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 928-A, p. iii, 1-44. 1947 Lode deposits of Alma and Horseshoe districts, Park County, in Vanderwilt, J. W., ed., Mineral resources of Colorado: Mineral Resources Board, p. 336-341. ____Lode deposits of the Beaver-Tarryall area, Park County, in Vanderwilt, J. W., Mineral resources of Colorado: Mineral Resources Board, p. 341-342. ____Lode deposits of the upper Blue River area, Summit County, in Vanderwilt, J. W., Mineral resources of Colorado: Mineral Resources Board, p. 343-346. 1950 Mineral Resources of Colombia (other than petroleum): U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 964B, p. 53-204. MEMORIAL TO QUENTIN DREYER SINGEWALD 105 1950 Gold placers and their geologic environment in northwestern Park County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 955D, p. 103-172. 1951 Geology and ore deposits of the upper Blue River area, Summit County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 970,74 p. 1953 (with Pierson, C. T.) Results of reconnaissance for radioactive minerals in parts of the Alma district, Park County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 294,9 p. 1954 (with Pierson, C. T.) Occurrences of uranium-bearing minerals in the St. Kevin district, Lake County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 321,17 p. 1955 Sugarloaf and St. Kevin mining districts, Lake County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1027E, p. 251-299. 1956 (and Brock, M. R.) Thorium deposits in the Wet Mountains, Colorado, in Page, L. R., Contributions to the geology of uranium and thorium: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 300, p. 581-585. ____(and Christman, R. A., Brock, M. R., and others) Geologic and radiometric maps of the McKinley Mountain area, Wet Mountains, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Mineral Investigations Field Studies Map MF-37,4 sheets. 1966 Description and relocation of part of the Isle fault zone, Wet Mountains, Colorado, in Geological Survey research 1966: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 550C, p. C20-C24. 1968 (with Brock, M. R.) Geologic map of the Mount Tyndall quadrangle, Custer County, Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle Map GQ 596, scale 1:24,000. ____(with Christman, R. A., Brock, M. R., Pearson, R. C.) Geology and thorium deposits of the Wet Mountains, Colorado—A progress report: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1072-H, p. 491-535.

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