In December 1979, the author received a Bachelor of Science degree from Morehead State University in Kentucky and finished a Master of Science thesis in geology at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky. After joining the US Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) in June 1980, the author worked as a geologist and coal-mine inspector for twenty-eight years, collecting plant fossils in coal mines. Following retirement, he spent two years exploring outcrops (road cuttings) in southern Virginia and sections of
West Virginia.
As an instructor of introduction to geology classes at institutions in Cumberland, Kentucky, and Wise, Virginia, the author offered his experience for
around twenty-six years.