Oregon Coast Waves - 1.12

John Lennon had Yoko, Johnny Cash had June, and Kent
Gibson had Bart.
Bart, a black Labrador retriever, may not have exactly been
a poetic muse, but Gibson said his faithful companion led
him to a passion and hobby that has lasted more than two
decades and taken him to places he never imagined.
“I was on Ona Beach in 1998, and I remember it was a very
stormy year,” recalled Gibson. “I was out collecting agates
and jasper from the beach with my dog, Bart, when I found
a rock about the size of a baseball.”
Gibson put the seemingly ordinary rock in his bucket, and
Bart took it out. “I tossed it, and the dog brought it back. We
did that twice. Then Bart dropped it on my foot.”
It was then that Gibson took a closer look and noticed that
“rock” wasn’t just any rock. It was a fossilized prehistoric
porpoise skull — the first fossil Gibson found — and one of
his discoveries that is currently on permanent loan to the
Smithsonian Institution.
Carbon dating placed it around 16.4 million years old by
paleontologists.
Since that fateful day, Gibson has collected thousands,
perhaps even hundreds of thousands of fossils on the beaches
in Lincoln County.
“I’ve found over 650 already this year,” said Gibson. “I
would say I have collected more beach fossils than anyone
in Oregon. And piece for piece, probably more than anyone,
anywhere.”
The road to the Smithsonian
Gibson’s road to the Smithsonian began about nine years ago
after a chance meeting with a couple other fossil enthusiasts.
Gibson had heard about two men who were going to give a
presentation about fossils in Lincoln City. He loaded several
fossils in the back of his truck and headed north.
Those two guys were artist Ray Troll and Dr. Kirk Johnson,
who now is the director of the Smithsonian National Museum
of Natural History. The pair were on a publicity tour for their
book called “Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway,” a retelling of their
5,000-mile road trip in search of fossils.
“I had about a dozen skulls in my truck and got there about
an hour early,” recalled Gibson. “I noticed these two nerdy
guys walking across the parking lot, and I asked if they were
looking
for the fossil guys too.”
Troll turned to Gibson and informed him that they were the
two presenters of the fossil talk.
By Susan Schuytema | Photos by Jeremy Burke & Susan Schutema