John Valley began his academic career at Rice University in the fall of 1980, diving into the research program that moved with him to University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983. Over the ensuing years, John’s science evolved from a focus on metamorphic petrology to a very broad spectrum of geoscience problems with the common— but not particularly restrictive— themes of “oxygen-bearing” and “new tools for old minerals”. Throughout John’s evolving and expansive career, two constants hold true: his enthusiasm for the science questions at hand and his dedication to mentoring graduate students and post-docs. No retrospective celebration of John’s scientific accomplishments is complete without recognizing his impact on the lives and careers of the more than 50 graduate students, and half as many post-docs, whom he mentored and inspired. A review of the collective wisdom he shared with all of us includes such nuggets as: Always work on important problems; Your scientific toolbox must be well-developed, always growing, and you should never shy from using it to help solve problems (important ones); You need to have a good standard; Always look closely at what you are going to analyze, document it, and make sure your interpretation is fully consistent with what you saw; It isn’t science until the paper is published; Fluids are (usually) not pervasive and anorthosites are (not always) gray; You really need to have a good standard (redux). Less formally, we heard: You think that’s a lot of red ink? You should see what Essene used to do to me; A good carpenter doesn’t blame his tools; Don’t bring me your abstract ‘til the day before it’s due; What do you think? (as you showed him your SIMS, irms or microprobe data, and then) You’re joking, right? And, finally: Nothing quite like field trips, hozzie and an impassioned rendition of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. With such wisdom and guiding principles, John Valley has inspired careful, far-reaching research, hard work, and geo-excitement which will assure his impact on students and geo-professionals for many years to come.