Alumni in the News
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July 2008
In Remembrance
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| Joe Balshone |
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Joe Balshone, a native Bexley, Ohio resident, received his graduate gemologist diploma (G.G.) from GIA in 1981. He opened the Columbus Gemological Laboratories with Loretta Curry in 1993 and conducted jewelry appraisals until 2002. Balshone died of natural causes on March 14 in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was 51.
Balshone is remembered as a “gentle giant” who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. “There wasn’t a person who knew him that didn’t like him,” said Curry, who worked with Balshone for 10 years. “I miss him myself, so I can imagine what the people in the jewelry industry must feel. We started designing Columbus police badges and it (the business) just started growing from there,” she said.
Balshone’s biggest hobby when he wasn’t working was online game boarding. He also designed online games. “Lots of people loved him just knowing him online through the games he played,” Curry said.
Born Joseph Garth Balshone on Nov. 18, 1956, Joe was the son of Benjamin Balshone, a Columbus businessman, author and owner of the former Lynn Drug Co., who died in 1991. His mother, Miriam "Mimi" Balshone, died in 1973. Joe attended the Columbus Academy and was a graduate of the Winchendon School, in Winchendon, Massachusetts. He attended the University of Cincinnati and recently obtained a master’s degree from Capella University, where he was preparing to write a doctoral dissertation at the time of his death. Among other things, he was a member of the ASA and the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers.
Besides his parents, Joe was preceded in death by a brother, Gary Lee Balshone, who died in 1941. He is survived by sisters Lynn B. (Frank D.) Jacobs, of Toledo, Ohio and Cathy B. (William) Becze, of Sudbury, Massachusetts; nephews David Jacobs of Reno, Nevada, and Bruce Jacobs of Dallas, Texas; nieces M. Joy Jacobs-Pilipski of San Diego, California and Mia Sylvia Becze of Sudbury; aunt Ruth Rosenthal, of Columbus, Ohio; uncle Bert Rosenthal, Palm Harbor, Florida; four cousins and five grand nephews
Memorials preferred to the Ronald McDonald House, 555 Children's Drive West, Columbus, Ohio 43205
Dec. 2007
Alumni member Ms. Blaire Beavers was chosen by the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers (NAJA) as the 2007 winner of its annual ACE© It Conference Scholarship to attend the 29th annual ACE© It Winter Educational Conference Feb. 4-5, 2008 in Tucson, Arizonia. Beavers, a GIA home study student' jewelry journey began when her father showed her geological formations in southern California deserts. She is pursuing her gemological education and attends as many gemological events as possible while working another job. "Being a good appraiser would appear to be a race without a finish line," she said.
NAJA scholarship winner Blaire Beavers examines pearls
during the recent 2007 Alumni Travel Program to the South
Pacific.
Oct. 2007
Two Alumni Chapters were recognized for their 25th anniversaries during GemFest Asia-Hong Kong 2007. Brook Ellis, vice president of GIA Education presented plaques to Irene Leung, president of the Hong Kong Alumni Chapter, and Yoshiko Doi, director of GIA Japan, for the Alumni Association Japan.
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| Brook Ellis with Irene Leung |
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| Brook Ellis with Yoshiko Doi |
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| Brook Ellis (center) with Yoshiko Doi (left of Ellis) and Seung-Hae Moon (right of Ellis) with Japan Alumni Association members. |
Sept. 2007
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| John Lee, G.G. |
John Lee, G.G., of the Pennsylvania/Delaware Valley Alumni Chapter, received the 2007 Professional of the Year award from the Pennsylvania Jewelers Association on Sept. 9.
He was recognized for "his untiring efforts on behalf of his community and his active participation in the building of a better jewelry industry in Pennsylvania," according to the organization.
