Carmela Wenger
Anne PiersonAnne Pierson is one of Humboldt County's female sole business owners, having opened the Art Center at Second and G Streets in mid-1972. She began as a supplier of frames and supplies, combined with a variety of interesting and some locally made gift items as well as a unique art gallery. Her business has grown in quantity and direction as demand for local artwork and crafts, as well as frames, increased from students, artists, tourists and the general public.
Anne's involvement in such a business evolved from her B.A. in art from Humboldt State University in 1964. She continued her art education for a year and a half at San Jose State, but decided to open her art supply business and gallery when she realized she would not be suited for a career in teaching or illustrating commercially. Her brother, Hank's need for a photo gallery was the gentle spur that finalized the decision; and her father, Ernie, owned the building which became the Art Center.
Anne was born and raised in Eureka, having attended Marshall Elementary School in Eureka, Eureka Senior High, and on to HSU. Her father Ernie Pierson is a well-known builder in Eureka area, which he starting doing in the mid-1930's and has built approximately 2,000 homes locally; and in 1962, he opened his Pierson Building center-another Eureka landmark.
Anne believes that the arts have become more and more important to Humboldt County's quality of life, as well as an important economy base. She is involved in many of the local arts and participates in some of the musicals. She would like to continue focusing on art, not just as a business woman, but to diversify her own personal endeavors and for the community. In particular, she would like to educate the motel owners of Humboldt County as to local cultural activities available, especially in the area of music, which is one of her main interests.
Anne feels it is important to be involved in the community in addition to and separate from one's normal job or routine for personal satisfaction and growth. "To over-commit is to not do service to any of the groups for which you volunteer." On the other hand, "Everyone should take on one volunteer commitment to which that person can give real quality time and energy."
Carmela Wenger is a highly respected and skilled marriage, family and child counselor. In her private practice and community leadership, she has continually focused on child development and healing.
Carmela is especially recognized for her work with at-risk children and their parents. She frequently trains home personnel and other groups in how to work with families involved in chemical dependency and recovery. Her other interests include trauma and recovery, and children's memory development.
While serving on the Parenting Subcommittee of the Juvenile Justice Commission, she developed the Children of Divorce program required of divorcing parents. She frequently works with court services as a witness/evaluator for children in custody decisions and other issues.
Many agencies such as the Youth Services Bureau and the Public Health Department seek her expertise in consultation. Carmela is very generous in volunteering her services. She trains CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteers to work with youth who are involved in court proceedings. She screens Big Brother/Big Sister volunteers. She trains Buddy-volunteers for HIV positive people in the Public Health Department's AIDS program. At Zane Junior High School she volunteers in the COPE (Communication Opportunities and Parent Education) program. She also serves on the Child Welfare Services Advisory Board. In 1977 Carmela completed her M.A. in psychology at Humboldt State University. She feels her continual professional development and training are important to her effectiveness.
Carmela says she gets great deal of personal satisfaction from her work.
Gayle Buchanan Karshner-Roscoe
Oregon native Gayle Buchanan Karshner-Roscoe came to Humboldt County in 1941 with her late husband, Don Karshner, professor of speech and drama, and later Dean of Students for many years at Humboldt State University. She was educated at the University of Oregon, Stanford University, Claremont College and Humboldt State University. "As a young wife in those years, I considered myself to be a partner to my husband and to have certain responsibilities," Gayle commented. As a result, our home was always filled with students and faculty." In 1943, when Don went off to World War II, Gayle was "drafted" to take his job, directing plays and teaching. Humboldt had only around 150 students then. She also served as Dean of Women a position later held by her sister, Kate Buchanan.
In the 1950s, the fire marshal condemned the old brick Arcata High School building. Gayle, as PTA president, came to the board with a complete plan for a bond campaign. "We went house to house and won the election the first time." Partly because of her efforts, a new high school was built. Her sons, then in high school, went on to professional careers. Gary is a professor of physics and astronomy at Saint Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, and Warner is a clinical psychologist and director of a mental health clinic at Puyallup, Washington. Both are married and have families.
Gayle chronicles her 1947 experience facing the communicable, and then fatal, disease tuberculosis in the Humboldt County Historian. Isolated from her family in the depressing sanitarium, she was only able to see her children through the screen door. "The three year old looked forlorn; the baby waved and smiled. I cried myself to sleep and knew I must never see them again until I could hold them." One day her husband, Don, came to visit in an unusually cheerful mood with a newspaper clipping about a new drug, streptomycin, to treat TB. Soon her family swept her off to Ross Hospital in Marin County, where she was cured with streptomycin and surgery.
Gayle was active in the Arcata Community Players in the s and the Union Town summer theater in the 60s. Then in the ྂs and ྌs, she worked with The Chamber Readers, led by Jean Wagner. As one of the original performers, Gayle loved playing roles from "Silly Goose" to characters from Shakespeare for students from kindergarten through college throughout the schools of Humboldt County. Comedy was her forte.
When her children left home for college, Gayle returned to teaching, this time for ten years in the Arcata High school system. Soon after Gayle's husband died in 1978, College of the Redwoods asked her to teach a pilot course in grief and adjustment for widows. So began her many workshops and talks offered thorough College of the Redwoods, the YWCA, the Methodist Church, and Hospice.
One of her most extensive and continuing activities has been "The Way It Was", a writing project for persons over 60, offered through the Retired Senior Volunteer Program. "Starting in 1979, we held seven statewide writing contests, and published four volumes of stories. Now we are continuing to assist older writers in the Silver Quills writing group."
Over the years, she has served on many boards including those of the Humboldt Arts Council, YMCA, Humboldt County Historical Society, and Chamber Readers. She and her second husband, Stanley Roscoe, an aviation psychologist, live on Azalea Hill, overlooking the Mad River, writing for pleasure and traveling frequently.
"Life is exciting when you continue to reach out and learn," she concluded.
Gladys "Glady" Strope is a well known figure in Humboldt County. She can be found nearly morning at the Humboldt County Mental Health office located in the Clark Complex. Twenty-five years ago, she and others founded the Mental health Advisory Board in Humboldt County. She has been designated the Children's Advocate for the County Council on Mental Health, and was the first children's Advocate ever appointed by the State of California. It is not surprising to learn that Glady's real focus is on providing adequate mental health services for children.
She and her husband, Charles M. Strope, have four children, three of whom still live in Humboldt County. The Sropes will be married fifty busy years in 1994, an anniversary well deserved for this still loving couple. They travel together frequently all over the world: she, in connection with mental health services and he, as an active member of Rotary International.
Gladys is a real "Native Humboldter", having been born at the old Sequoia Hospital, formerly located in downtown Eureka. Her parents were early settlers in Humboldt County. Although an only child, she has more than made up for any special "only child privileges" by her generous contributions of time and money to the county and state. She considers herself a professional volunteer, and her schedule would make anyone half her age gasp for breath.
Glady's interest in mental health dates back to when she was only nineteen years old and attending a private college in Hartford, Connecticut, while at the same time working as a psychiatric aid. She took classes from Yale School of Nursing, as well. Her Bachelor's Degree was earned at Humboldt State College in education and psychology. She was the first in California to obtain an "uncombined kindergarten credential," and taught kindergarten classes, and did counseling and testing work for a year before devoting most of her energy to mental health services.
Gladys feels that the most treasured honor she has ever received, and they are innumerable, is the "tiny, unframed" commendation award from the California Mental Health Advocates for Children and Youth, acknowledging her as the Outstanding Mental Health Advocate in the State in 1989.
Her goal is to see the mental health system strengthened to include real, true, comprehensive services available to everyone through the government. She intends to make that goal come true as a recent appointee by Governor Wilson to the California Mental Planning Council.
Gladys expresses deep feelings of pride and accomplishment in her many years of commitment and devotion to the field of mental health. Her hobby? A beautiful, priceless antique doll collection. You might see her at a local doll show if you miss her at the clinic!
Jean Herron is an active community worker/volunteer and retired English teacher. After teaching English for seventeen years at Eureka High School, Jean and her husband, John, joined the Peace Corps. They served 1985-87 in Belize. While there she was a teacher supervisor and the coordinator of adult education. She started a curriculum of oral English for young children. Belize schools had very few books; so, she coordinated a program to send used school book from Humboldt County. Since 1987, over five tons of books have been sent.
In 1989, Jean and John book a second Peace Corps assignment in The Gambia, West Africa. In this location her teaching skills were used in conservation education.
Since returning from Africa, Jean has taught English as a second language in Eureka Adult School and with the Hmong children in kindergarten at Alice Burney Elementary School. She serves as treasurer on the Humboldt Literacy Project board, and currently tutors three adult students.
Through the Senior Resource Center she teaches 55 Alive-a safe driving program for seniors. Other organizations she has worked with include: Toastmasters International., Planned Parenthood, Delta Kappa Gamma (her educational sorority) and her church. While teaching full-time Jean was president of the Redwood Council of Teachers of English. As an English Teacher Specialist she led workshops for other teachers.
Jean graduated form the University of Idaho, and completed her M.A. in English from New Mexico Highlands University in 1962. While her children were young, she taught English part-time at College of the Redwoods and Humboldt State University. Jean feels it is important to continue contributing to her community and the world.
Joan Tempas was born and raised in Sacramento, California. She graduated from Sacramento State University in 1965, with a B.S. in nursing. Joan then took and passed her state boards, becoming an RN, earned the Public Health Certificate, and earned a School Nursing Credential. She worked in hospital pediatrics and public health for two years, but did not find it as rewarding as other forms of health care practice.
In 1976/68, Joan began teaching Lamaze birthing classes in Davis, California, and later in Brattleboro, Vermont. This led her to become involved in the delivery of over three hundred babies. Later she also would be involved in death as a volunteer for Hospice of Humboldt. Both experiences hold the same excitement for her, and she considers it an honor to be allowed to help in either capacity.
Joan is currently an exemplary school nurse for the Humboldt County Office of Education and the Arcata School District. She visits nine schools on her rounds, six in the Klamath-Trinity area and three in Arcata. A school nurse, Tempas is responsible for completing health assessments and mandated health screenings. She coordinates sex education services, including important information about AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. She provides specialized physical health care for needy students and interprets medical results for parents and teachers when necessary. She teaches baby-sitting classes to sixth-graders at Sunny Brae Middle School and Basic First Aid classes to fourth-graders at Arcata Elementary Schools. She works closely with parents, teachers, students, and the community in ways far and above bandage distribution.
Joan's commitment to health practice and to the schools continues in other ways. She is the President of the Arcata Elementary Teachers Association, a position she feels well suited for, given her contact level with all the schools in the Arcata School District. She initiated the health screenings and blood drive in the district. Giving blood is very important to her, and she is proud to have given seventy units of blood over the years. She is on the Public Education Committee for the American Cancer Society and works with the Smoke-Free Class of 2000 campaign, last year producing a public service announcement seen on KIEM. She represents five counties in region one for the California School Nurses, Organization, working to provide coordinated services, as part of It's Elementary, a task force report on elementary education today.
A special area of interest and contribution for Joan is music. She is an Elder and choir member at the first Presbyterian church and has sung in the Redwood Chorale, traveling with them to Europe. She participates in the Brass Music Ensemble at Humboldt State University in the summer, and plays in the Sunny Brae Middle School band, under the direction of her husband, Fred, music teacher for the Arcata School District.
Joan wants to continue with what she is doing in her work, keep music in her life, helping her husband in music activities, and returning to Europe someday. She is the mother of two daughters, of whom she is very proud, and who must certainly be proud of their mother.
Tempas said, "I can't be more pleased with what I'm doing. My job makes a difference in the community. You can make a difference anywhere."
Judy Hodgson, a journalist for twelve years, is a partner in the North Coast Journal, a local alternative source of news and information. The purpose of the North Coast Journal is the reporting of only local news and events. This publication is 100% local in content, fills a public service need, and is supported by its advertisers and, therefore, free to the public. The Journal is independent of outside sources and focuses on current events, health care issues, politics and serves as a public forum.
Judy attended school in Los Angeles and graduated from high school there. She and her husband moved, first to Oregon and then in 1972 to Humboldt County, where her husband took a position as a professor at HSU. Judy attended college, working for Humboldt County, raised a family and obtained her B.A. from Humboldt State University in 1978, with a major in journalism and a minor in economics. She went to work for the Arcata Union, and served there as a journalist and editor for almost ten years. While working at the Arcata Union, Judy began to realize the importance of a business background. She returned to HSU in 1988 to study business. She has utilized her business background in both the North Coast Journal and the Fieldbrook winery, another business partnership which she shares with her husband.
The Fieldbrook Winery started as a hobby at home in the kitchen. The Hodgsons started by making fruit wines for their own home. They read, studied wine production, obtained the proper business licenses, and went into commercial production of wine in 1976. They produce premium table wines such as chardonnay, carnet sauvignon, zinfandel, and have won prestigious competitions at the California State Fair, San Diego Nationals, and the Orange County Fair. They received the Four state Gold for the top chardonnay at the nationals. The Fieldbrook Winery is host to weddings, community fund-raisers, art shows, dinner receptions and wine-tastings. Judy has work to make the winery a wonderful asset to our community.
In addition to her many accomplishments as a businesswoman and journalist, Judy is a mother to three lovely daughters. As a concerned parent, Judy has served on the Fieldbrook PTA and School Site Committee, the Fieldbrook School Board and as a volunteer for 4-H. Judy continues to serve on the community board of HSU as a liaison between the campus media and the community at large. As a journalist, Judy has been a guest speaker at local high schools and the University for their journalism classes. Judy is very outgoing and active as a journalist and businesswoman. She plans to continue being an active part of the community.
Libby Maynard attended the International School of Bangkok, Thailand, and graduated from that school in 1966. She returned to the United States to attend Wellesley college. In 1967, she chose to move to Humboldt County and complete her education at Humboldt State University. Libby received a B.A. in art in 1970, a Secondary Teaching Credential in art in 1971 and a M.A. in art in 1982.
Due to her desire to work and live only in rural or small communities, Libby remained in Humboldt County after her graduation from HSU. She is presently self-employed as the Executive Director of the Ink People, which she co-founded with Brenda Tuxford in 1979. The Ink People is a non-profit arts organization that provides a support system, equipment and studio space for local artists. It serves as a transition between the university and a professional career in the arts. The Ink People is a 500 member organization dedicated to a socially supportive environment of all participants.
Libby has traveled extensively on behalf of Humboldt County artists as Executive Director of Humboldt Arts Council, and as a board member of the California Confederation of the Arts. To help develop culturally diverse programs, Libby has written grants, developed programs for the local area and implemented programs which are dedicated to the promotion and understanding of the arts and their people. These programs include Artists in Residence Projects, Folk Arts Workshops, Community Mural Projects, Intertribal Coalition for Cultural Continuity, and other rural arts programs for the betterment of the community.
In addition to the arts, Libby is a professional consultant for various programs, exhibitions, workshops, community cultural assessments and planning. She has served as a consultant for California Assembly of Local Arts Agencies, Center Arts HSU, Humboldt Arts Council, California Arts Council and many other agencies at state, national and international levels. She has published articles in this capacity in the ARC, the Rural Arts Newsletter, titled "The Future as a Work of (Local) Art," and "Why NEA Has Its Eye on a Rural County."
Libby has been both speaker and panelist in such organizations as National Endowment for the Arts, Utah and California Arts Councils, and Humboldt County Rural Education conference held in eureka in 1988. In addition, she was a witness for the Congressional Sub-Committee on Post-Secondary Education on the re-authorization of the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990. And, finally, Libby serves on the Board of Directors of the Northcoast Cooperative, Inc. She is a very busy and dedicated contributor to this community.
Lynne Canning was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Educated in both private and pubic schools, she graduated from Pitzer College with a B.A. in history. While at Pitzer Lynne served on the school Executive Committee and worked as an aide to Log Angeles City Council member pat Russell. Both of these opportunities allowed her to learn how to practice the art of governing.
Canning continues her commitment to public service as the Vice Mayor of Arcata. Elected to the Arcata City Council in 1990, she serves in many capacities on numerous committees. These efforts include: Vice chair of the Humboldt Transit Authority, board member of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission (RREDC), Humboldt County Integrated Waste Management Task Force, Humboldt Transit Authority, and Homeless Task Force Policy Committee.
Lynne has a complete understanding of how grass roots efforts in running a campaign, blend with actually governing. She has coordinated local, regional and statewide political campaigns. She has recruited and trained community volunteers, registered voters, produced and distributed campaign materials, conducted telephone polling, coordinated fundraising events and organized door-to-door and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Lynne has coordinated many non-profit community events involving participant and volunteer recruitment, such as the Farewell To Arms Race for Citizens for Social Responsibility, obtaining financial and in-kind donations from local businesses and community members, and organizing media and promotional activities.
Lynne still makes an effort to contribute to the community on a more personal level. She was a volunteer for Hospice of Humboldt and had just completed training as a buddy for the North Coast AIDS Project when she was elected to the Arcata City Council. Because of the time required for the City Council, she has had to take time away from these activities and misses them very much.
As a professional, Lynne is the source reduction and market research specialist with Gainer and Associates. She monitors state and federal solid waste legislation and advises cities and counties of its implications for local government. She brings years of practical experience in media relations, grassroots organizing, and fundraising to the start up of new recycling programs.
Lynne Canning's goals for the future are focused on keeping Humboldt County a viable place to live. She would like to see the different government entities work together and become aware of the economic changes that are coming to Humboldt County, develop affordable housing without destroying valuable agricultural lands, and develop and promote a sense of how to design communities more like a neighborhood than a subdivision. "I have a belief that government can work; and in Arcata, I think it does," Canning says.
When someone works as hard and contributes as much to any endeavor as does Lynne Canning, it does work.
Sheila Marks came to Humboldt County from Seattle in the fall of 1969 with her husband, Frank, who had been hired to teach at Humboldt State University. She is a native of New Britain, Connecticut.
Sheila received a Bachelor of Arts from Lake Erie College in Ohio, a Master of Music from Yale University in Connecticut, and pursued special study at the University of Gottengen in Germany, the British Columbia Opera Ensemble in Vancouver, B.C., and the Metropolitan Opera Program with the San Francisco Opera. She was a regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and a winner of the San Francisco Opera auditions.
After directing the choir for the Princeton Country Day School for four years, Mrs. marks began teaching voice in 1964 at the Cornish School of Allied Arts in Seattle, Washington. She has taught locally at College of the Redwoods, The Institute for Preparatory Music Studies, and the Dell'Arte School where she teaches studio voice, class voice, music appreciation, music of the whole earth, lyric diction, and vocal literature. She teaches voice, other studies and part-time regularly to fulfill the needs of the music department at Humboldt State University.
Her professional opera career has included performances with the Vancouver Opera Association of British Columbia, Canada, the San Francisco Opera, and the Seattle Opera Company. Following a Seattle performance the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reviewed her as such: "The evening distinctly belonged to Sheila Marks as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni. She was truly splendid. Almost regal in appearance and sure and strong in voice, she carried the role with all the necessary anguish of a noble woman desperately wronged... Mrs. Marks is perhaps most noted for her musical versatility and her large repertoire." Her repertoire includes over fifty roles.
Mrs. Marks sings locally on a regular basis in recital with her husband at Humboldt State and the Humboldt Cultural Center. She does chamber concerts, solos with the Humboldt Symphony, and performs with Humboldt Light Opera.
In 1972, Mrs. Marks organized the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop, and was its administrator until 1990.
In 1985, Frank and Shelila Marks became the administrators of The Institute for Preparatory Music Studies, which has grown from fifty to more than 350 students under their nurturance. The Institute is in session every Saturday during the school year on the Humboldt State Campus. Its purpose is to educate students from two to seventeen years of age. Their philosophy is to "offer as many children as possible the opportunity to study music under the guidance of a highly trained faculty...the core of the teaching staff is the faculty of the HSU Music Department, augmented by gifted community musicians, who are specialists in specific teaching areas, and by upper division HSU music majors."
She has also been on the board of the Community Concert Association, the Humboldt Arts Council, and Humboldt Sponsors member, and served as an officer in the Humboldt County Branch of Music Teachers Association of California.
Mrs. Marks, son, John, is graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in philosophy. He lives with his family in Berkeley where he manages a restaurant. Her daughter, Katy, is a junior at Yale with majors in music and linguistics.
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Last Updated 3/10/97
