Donald Wendler Schmerling was born on August 22, 1918 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, died January 12, 2005 in Oregon, Wisconsin.  Unlike many who developed a love for minerals as a youngster, his passion stemmed from a cigar box full of minerals his Father-in-law presented him in the early 1940's.  What time he lost collecting minerals as a youth, he more than made up for as an adult.  He added to his cigar box with minerals he collected from the copper and sulfide deposits located in Upper Michigan, Wisconsin and Canada.

In 1969 he and his wife Margaret moved to York, Pennsylvania.  Lucky for us he did.  His love for minerals led him to the York County Rock and Mineral Club where he met many major PA mineral collectors including Martin Anne, Bryon Brookmyer, Karl Jones, James Quickel, Jay Lininger, and Chuck Winkler.  They affectionately called themselves the "Mineral Mafia" and they were determined to locate all of the collecting locales referred to in The Mineralogy of Pennsylvania by Samuel G. Gordon, 1922.  This, as well as The Mineralogy of Pennsylvania 1922-1965 by Arthur Montgomery, was the bible of every Pennsylvania mineral collector.  So started Don's most prolific period of collecting.  Most every weekend and vacation was devoted to mineral collecting.  This style of collecting lasted for years with many, if not most, of the Gordon locales rediscovered.  His collection grew along with a large repository of mineral collecting localities, reference books, geological surveys and mining resource manuals.

It was during this time that Robert C. Smith II was writing his update to The Mineralogy of Pennsylvania 1966-1975.  Don and his wife were instrumental in the development of the book.  Don and his "Mafia" discovered many species new to the State, including three separate Anatase localities, and supplied many specimens for research.  His reference library contributed many articles, most notably Arthur Montgomery's "Pennsylvania Minerals" columns originally published in the Keystone Newsletter.  He arranged to have many suspected new species analyzed at Chemetron Corporation via scanning electron microscope.  Marge Schmerling assisted in typing the first and second draft and Don reviewed the finished manuscript for historical accuracy of their contributions and discoveries.

In the early 1980's Don began to focus on the occurrences of gold in the state.  Although gold had previously been reported in the state, the localities were not well described and difficult to locate.  Not having a gold specimen in his collection, Don and fellow collector Karl Jones decided to find one.  Their search was successful when they discovered gold in a stream in Adams County.  They extended their search and located gold in other southeastern counties including Lancaster, York and Chester.  Due in part to their efforts, an annual gold panning seminar is sponsored by geologist Jeri Jones and the York County Parks Association every summer.

Don retired from his vocation in 1983 and the mineral horizon lay open before him.  He was now free to travel around the world collecting minerals.  Don collected in the Canadian Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.  He traveled extensively in the southwestern US and Alaska.  On other trips he ventured into the South American countries of Chile and Brazil.  Trips abroad took him to Iceland, Scandinavia, New Zealand and Morocco.  Twice he collected in Australia including a week digging in the outback.  He ventured into communist China and capped it off with four major trips to Russia including Siberia, Kola, Dalnegorsk and the Polar Urals!  Today, Don and Marge are still actively traveling, though now it is to see their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and to do a little fishing!

In 1999, Don decided it was time to liquidate his collection, which as you can imagine was quite extensive.  Before the collection was broken up, I was fortunate to visit Don and see the great care he had given each and every piece.  Every specimen was carefully mounted and labeled in clear plastic perky boxes.  His library was still intact with many first edition volumes and research material that assuredly exists nowhere else.  Walking into his repository was taking a trip back through time to the many years he devoted to increasing the understanding of The Mineralogy of Pennsylvania as well as the rest of the world, for which we are all grateful.