By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com
George Jennings, Jr. found a 34 lb. pallasite meterorite in his back pasture south of the high school football field in Greensburg at the end of October 2024, and he is still riding a euphoric high brought on by the discovery.
“I’ve always wanted to be part of something like this, but I never imagined it would happen to me,” Jennings said. “It is just amazing to touch something with your hands that came from a millions miles away in outer space. Kind of mind-boggling, and amazing.”
Pallasite meteorites are a class of stony-iron meteorites considered relatively rare. They can be distinguished by the presence of large olivine crystal inclusions in the ferro-nickel matrix. Jennings said he has learned that meteorites like the one he found about two-and-a-half feet underground are made up of nickel, iron, and olivine. He said his meteortie and others like it, found east of Greensburg in the Brenham Meteorite Fall are all magnetic. They likely came from an asteroid belt that circles around the planet Jupiter and were broken off by impacts in that belt before careening into Earth’s atmosphere and gravitational pull.
Jennings and his wife, Sandy, moved to Greensburg, Kansas in 2017, choosing their present location because they wanted to live in a safe community where they could grow crops and vegetables on a small-scale, as well as raise animals for food.
“I didn’t know anything about meteors before moving here, but I became acquainted with Don Stimpson from Brenham and he is the one who convinced me I should check over my 30 acres here to see if I had a meteorite,” Jennings said.
Stimpson found a collection of more than 10 large meteors on his own property and developed a museum that featured his finds from the Brenham Meteor Fall about four miles east of Greensburg. Stimpson sold much of his inventory of meteors to a Chinese investor in 2015 because of health issues but still maintained an avid interest in finding meteors around Greensburg. So one nice day (October 28) he talked Jennings into riding around with him on his golf cart that was rigged up with a giant metal detector.
“He knew what he was listening for and when that thing began whining and clicking he knew right away that we had found something big. I wasn’t so sure, but we started digging, and sure enough, there it was,” Jennings said.
Neighbors were almost as excited as Jennings when the meteor was located. Children helped dig, and Jennings was all smiles when he finally hoisted up the big rock.<n>“I don’t know what I’m going to do with it,” he said. “I keep it in my front room, right on top of a mini-fridge and I am compiling all the information I can about it. This is pretty exciting.”
Jennings is already a walking encyclopedia when it comes to growing fruit trees, and bushes, raising sheep, planting pollinator mix, and raising an orphan robin. Now his world has expanded in a big way and he is learning all he can about meteors. He is happy to share his knowledge with any who ask and may be reached by email at george.jennings.jr@gmail.com. He is also a regular columnist for the Tri-County Tribune’s religion page.
