Alan Pirie Collection

My father-in-law was an avid sailor and body surfer in his youth, growing up in Mission Beach.  He was also a well-loved high school biology teacher in La Mesa, a father of 3 boys and a grandpa to 4 young adults.  My mother-in-law surmises that he must have gotten started in the early 1970s during one of their many family camping trips in Agua Caliente, along rivers/beaches, and various national parks, with their young kids in tow,  Whenever they travelled, he and my mother-in-law always had extra plastic bags handy to collect sand, which over time would end up stored in close to 300 baby food jars from family and friends. Apparently, the arrival of grandkids brought joy and excitement in more ways than one: He couldn't wait til a grandkid was old enough to start eating baby food and was bummed when the flow of jars stopped.

As the kids grew up and moved out, my in-laws began traveling more - along the coast from southern CA to Oregon, Washington and Canada, visiting friends and family in different states, and traveling to Europe, each time adding to his collection.  At some point, he prepared for getting questioned at the airport, by rehearsing "it's for scientific research".

Towards the end, my mother-in-law would half-jokingly complain about his collection of things in the garage and that she wished she would go first because she didn't want to deal with cleaning up the garage, filled with his collections (sand, shell, etc), once he's gone.  It wasn't until he passed that we realized how big his sand collection was, meticulously labeled and arranged in a bookshelf, in the back of the garage.  

We surmise that his favorite location was Mission Beach, as he had a lot of fun-filled, sun-soaked memories growing up there.  We're thrilled that his sand collection gets to live on in the hands of people equally, if not more, passionate about sand collecting.

Thank you for reaching out.  We're more than happy to share his story 🙂

Menchie Pirie