Tom McGuire, a Cave Creek Museum volunteer and museum ambassador for more than two decades, is a former award-winning New York science educator and an author of five books about Earth science.
McGuire, who has served nearly 20 years (nine election cycles) on the Cave CreekTown Council, says trails and preserving open space are his high priorities. He is a graduate of the University of Rochester with a major in geology. Continental drift/plate tectonics was just becoming widely accepted by scientists when he entered graduate school for his master’s degree in geology education.
“Upon retirement from teaching, Elaine and I moved to Arizona to explore the unique and beautiful landforms, both within and outside the national parks,” says McGuire. “Remote parts of Arizona and Southern Utah are especially inviting. The Cave Creek Mining District and its history, which is a focus of our museum, are a perfect fit with my own interests. A highlight of my service to the Town of Cave Creek and the museum is the generous and interesting people I work with. These organizations are far more than “bricks and mortar.”
“If you want to see some complex and very interesting geoscience, Cave Creek is a good place,” says McGuire. “We have 1.7-billion-year-old marine sediments, now metamorphosed, granite rock from magma solidification deep underground, prehistoric violent volcanoes and lava flows, and now, erosion by monsoon floods. It was, and still is, a ‘happening place’.”
“It explains so much of the evolving geology we see here,”
adds McGuire.”
McGuire says climbing every mesa and mountain one can see from Cave Creek has been a rewarding challenge. Two of the Cave Creek books he likes most are Frances Carlson’s Cave Creek and Carefree Arizona, A History of the Desert Foothills (available for purchase at the museum) and Geoffrey Platts’ Trek, A Man Alone in the Arizona Wild.
Arizona’s current water crisis fits in with his own interests. He has given his Arizona’s Water presentation to various groups throughout the community.
“Arizona has impressive experts in water management, however we need to plan our water future wisely,” says McGuire. “Sustainable groundwater is the key to successful water policies. That’s where the science, the politicians and the voters need to come together…soon.”
McGuire also is a frequent speaker on the subjects on: Arizona’s Water, Off the Beaten Path and Cave Creek: From the Source to the Sea.
During the past 20 years, the museum volunteer has been joined by local residents and visitors for his monthly Spur Cross Conservation Area geology walks. He likes the quote, “Geology is outside. Get into it.”
“Giving back to others in the community, whether it is through museum volunteerism, council leadership or by educating others about Arizona, is what I enjoy and plan to continue for some time to come.”
The 54-year-old museum’s 501(c) (3)’s mission is to preserve the artifacts of the prehistory, history, culture and legacy of the Cave Creek Mining District and the Cave Creek/Carefree foothills area through education, research, and interpretive exhibits. The Cave Creek Museum is located at 6140 E. Skyline Drive in Cave Creek, Ariz., 480.488.2764. Open October through May.
