Hidden Gems

The saying “as dumb as a box of rocks” would never escape Maggie Williams’ lips.

Her rocks are brilliant.

She has two cabinet displays full of rocks lined side by side. Some are unusually shaped, but to the naked eye, the rocks are plain, normal-looking blocks of minerals.

Until Williams flips the light switch.

In the dark, under a shortwave ultraviolet light, the earth’s most basic objects come alive with color— violet, lime green, magenta and orange hues radiating from the display cabinets.

“They’re called nature’s hidden rainbows,” said Williams, glowing almost as bright as the rocks with excitement, “and I think that’s apt.”

The 65-year-old Melrose resident and her husband, Whitey Williams, 66, have always been rock hounds. The two make jewelry out of different rocks that they cut, smooth and sand in a giant workshop next to their house. They buy rocks off the Internet and take every opportunity to comb the ground for them.

But collecting fluorescent minerals became Maggie Williams’ hobby only two years ago, when she was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma. Through a series of seven surgeries, doctors removed her nose and reconstructed it out of her forehead, ear cartilage and scalp. Williams, who wears glasses, said she had nothing to keep her occupied; she could no longer read and was confined to a chair for most of the day. Her husband knew she was interested in fluorescent minerals because he had seen her fascination of them at a rock show in Coos Bay. The two began hunting for the special rocks on eBay to pass the time.

“This was the one thing I could really see and enjoy,” said Williams. “This gave me something else to think about rather than I might not make it six months.”

Williams said only 10 percent of rocks in the word will glow under fluorescent lights, and she owns about 500 of them.

She and her husband will display the rocks in a dark tent at the upcoming annual Gem and Mineral Show, Rocks Under Foot, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at the Douglas County Fairgrounds in Roseburg.

The club was incorporated in 1956 to encourage interest in the study of earth sciences and to provide information on the lapidary arts and collection and classification of minerals, fossils and other stones. There are 88 members in the Umpqua Gem and Mineral club.

“I wouldn’t say it is perhaps as popular as coin collecting or stamp collecting, but it’s a pretty popular hobby,” said David Williams, the spokesman for Rocks Under Foot.

Like the Douglas County show, clubs host gem and mineral events throughout the state, and one of Williams’ pastimes includes searching for glowing rocks outside of the area. She carries a portable ultraviolet light with her and also has a black backpack that serves as a mini darkroom.

“I’ve also been know to put a black garbage bag on my head,” said Williams with a laugh.

With her growing collection and healing body, Williams’ spirit also flourished.

“She was more outgoing— she had something she was enjoying suddenly,” her husband said.

The couple’s display cabinets are home to fluorescent minerals from all over the world that cost anywhere from $5 to more than $100. Williams explained that the fluorescence is a reaction from the combination of the chemicals in a mineral and the light from an ultraviolet lamp or a black light. It is easiest to find the shining rocks at night, in dark mines and caves, or in Franklin, N.J. The city’s claim to fame is being “The Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World.”

Williams said when her husband goes to bed, she’ll walk into the room that houses the display cabinets and sit and watch the rocks glow.

“There’s this beauty locked up in a rock, and until you know the secret, you can’t see it. Rocks are ugly things,” said Williams. “Until you turn on the ultraviolet light.”



• You can reach reporter Cara Pallone at 957-4208 or by e-mail at cpallone@nrtoday.com.