REMEMBERING ANNA I. JONAS STOSE: ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATION OF APPALACHIAN GEOLOGY

Anna I. Jonas Stose was born in Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1881. Anna was an only child to George and Mary Hughes Gilbert Jonas. After attending Friends Central School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she attended Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. There she obtained an her A.B. in 1904, her A.M. in 1905 and her PhD. in 1912. While at Bryn Mawr she assisted in the geological laboratories and was curator of the college’s geology museum. What may have sent Anna’s career into the lime-light was working with her mentor, the grande dame of geology, Florence Bascom. Along with two of her classmates, Eleanora Bliss Knopf and Julia Gardner, this relationship of over 50 years was a story in itself.

Anna’s resume of professional positions is outstanding. With a career spanning over 60 years, she was employed by the American Museum of Natural History, Maryland Geological Survey, Pennsylvania Geological Survey, Virginia Geological Survey and the United States Geological Survey. Anna’s contributions to Appalachian geology are outstanding. Her studies within the Piedmont and Blue Ridge provinces in the southern and central Appalachians laid the groundwork for future geologic studies. Anna was solely or jointly responsible for identifying structural trends and features, including the Martic fault in southeastern Pennsylvania. She also identified rock units still used today throughout the region. During her work in the Blue Ridge, Anna began to work with George Stose. Their joint research was then the most advanced work in petrology and structure. After working with George Stose for about 16 years, the couple married in 1938. In the classic work Studies of Appalachian Geology: Central and Southern, edited by George Fisher, Anna has more listings in the author index than any other geologist.

Although a keen observer in the field, she was a controversial figure. Anna always said what was on her mind and often took her interpretations a bit too far, turning her published maps into somewhat schematic cartoons. Her field notes were full of “off-the-wall” ideas, some of which still are accepted by geologists today. In her later years, Anna suffered from failing eye sight. Anna died with a still youthful mind in 1974 in Ocean View, New Jersey.