Polly Friedlander
Keri Healey | Alexander Evans | Moira Holley| Frank Glenn
Georgia Gellert Penfield | Kathleen Sayce
Leroy Soper | Neville Thompson | Susan Thurston

POLLY FRIEDLANDER, President, attended the University of Puget Sound, the University of Washington, and did post-graduate studies at the University of London in Art History.  She opened an art gallery in Seattle’s Pioneer Square in 1970 and became actively involved in the renaissance of the area.  She was a founding trustee of Historic Seattle and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra.  More recently, Polly was chair of the Oysterville Design Review Board and champion of the award-winning Design Review Guidelines.  Later, she served as president of the Oysterville Restoration Foundation, acquiring a ten-acre bay front meadow to be held in open space for posterity.  Polly serves as an advisory trustee for the University of Washington Press. Her personal interests include art, literature, gardening, and some golf.  Click here to read about Polly’s October 2007 cultural exchange to China led by Vice President Shawn Wong.

KERI HEALEY, Secretary, is a playwright and director. Her recent works for the stage include THE IKEA Cycle: Tiny Domestic Dramas, Parrot Fever (Or, Lies I’ve Told in Chat Rooms), Cherry, Cherry Lemon, and Penetralia. Her work has been produced by Annex Theatre, Ethereal Mutt, Ltd, the Seattle International Fringe Festival, Re-Bar, the Adelaide (Australia) Fringe Festival, Frontera Fest (Austin), and the Flipside Arts Festival (Singapore). She served as the Managing Director of Seattle’s flagship fringe theater, Annex Theatre, from 1999 through 2002 and is currently a company member of Printer’s Devil Theater in Seattle. In 2004, she was chosen to become one of Seattle Dramatists’ Principal Playwrights and in 2005, she was cited by Seattle’s weekly newspaper, The Stranger, as “One to Watch” in its annual Genius Awards issue. Keri was first selected for the Espy Foundation’s Writers Residency Program in October 2002, when she worked on the rough draft of a new play, titled The Super Happy Couple Book. This play will go into production in 2007. She returned as an Espy resident in October 2006 when she worked on translating her play Cherry Cherry Lemon into a screenplay and drafting scenes for a new stage play. Keri resides in Seattle and works as a freelance writer.

ALEXANDER EVANS is a major gift officer at UC Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources.  Previously, he worked at Stanford University and The Goldman Sachs foundation in New York.  Alex’s work in development began with a student job at Yale and a fundraising internship at the New York Public Library.  A native of Portland, OR, Alex has a family connection to Oysterville and visits whenever he can.

FRANK GLENN IV is a native of the Long Beach Peninsula. He is of the fourth generation of cranberry farmers who have established a deep and lasting connection to the area. He himself is a cranberry farmer turned psychotherapist, whose love of the wilderness has lead to pioneering conservation efforts. For over a decade, Glenn worked towards the preservation of native old-growth trees within Island Lake Forest on the Peninsula. In 2007, Glenn, along with his family, celebrated the transfer of this unique property to Columbia Land Trust.  Glenn is also a photographer and writer, whose words have inspired local and regional environmental activists. Frank received a BS in Forest Resource Management and Conservation of Wildland Resources from the University of Washington and in 2005, completed his Masters in Applied Behavioral Science from Leadership Institute of Seattle at Bastyr University.  Frank and his wife Karla make their home in Ilwaco, WA.

GEORGIA GELLERT PENFIELD presently serves as an occasional consultant to Mason J. Blacher Associates, which provides development counsel for non-profit organizations. She has been a long-time public relations freelancer specializing in nonprofit organizations and is a former newspaper editor and publicity director.  She was assistant exhibits director for the Seattle World’s Fair from 1960-62.  Georgia is a trustee emeritus for the Governor’s Mansion Foundation and was a trustee of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra for more than 20 years.

MOIRA HOLLEY is a leading Residential Specialist with Windermere Real Estate’s Premier Director Division and one of the most successful Real Estate Professionals in the Northwest. Born in San Francisco, Moira tells everyone that she’s been fortunate to grow up in the world’s three most beautiful places: Seattle, Washington; Northern California’s Portola Valley; and Maui, Hawaii. As one of the first residents of a revitalized Pike Place Market, Moira was one of a handful of urban pioneers who launched the re-emergence of Downtown Seattle and its historic neighborhoods as a coveted global address for families, urban professionals and world-class companies. Prior to entering the field of real estate, Moira’s work in fashion and gourmet products introduced her to a broad cross section of Seattle’s society. Presently, Moira serves as a member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Broadmoor/Washington Park Guild, and she regularly opens her home for fundraisers benefiting The Service Board. Moira is also a decades-long supporter of Seattle’s Bailey Boushay House and Maui, Hawaii’s Fleming Arboretum, as well as a habitué of Seattle’s burgeoning cultural and arts scene.

KATHLEEN SAYCE is a long-time resident of Nahcotta. She is an ecologist and wetlands consultant who has worked locally and throughout the Pacific Northwest for more than 25 years. Kathleen is an educator, speaker and eco-tour guide, whose extensive knowledge of coastal ecosystems makes her a great local and regional resource. Kathleen is also a writer. She has published extensively in scientific journals and is a regular contributor to the Chinook Observer.  Sayce is currently working on a book on the Natural History of the Columbia Coast, a compilation of articles published in the Chinook Observer.  Kathleen is a supporter of local cultural and environmental organizations including Columbia Land Trust, Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, and was a founding board member for Water Music Festival. She is the local board member for the Confluence Project, a multiple art site in Washington and Oregon, for which Maya Lin is the designer. The local Confluence site is at Cape Disappointment State Park.

LEROY SOPER was the manager of the University Book Store from 1977 to 1993.  He served on the board of directors of the American Booksellers Association for seven years.  He was chair of the Governor’s Writers Awards, and he received Washington State’s Nancy Blankenship Pryor Award for service to the literary arts in 1991.  Leroy serves on the advisory board of the University of Washington Press. He graduated from the University of Washington.

NEVILLE THOMPSON brings a wealth of experience as a librarian. She spent twelve years at Columbia University’s Avery Library (of the history of architecture), where she was responsible for compiling the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, and twenty years supervising the library at the Winterthur Museum in Winterthur, Delaware.

At Winterthur, Neville was responsible for all aspects of supervising the library, including staff, budgeting, acquisitions, and working with museum staff and visiting scholars resident at Winterthur. She also chaired a conference on the material culture of the American home and edited the volume of conference papers for publication. She is an experienced public speaker and her articles and book reviews have appeared in numerous publications. Winterthur’s focus was on the decorative arts and material culture of the American home and of associated areas. Thompson’s special interest was in nineteenth-and early twentieth century domestic interiors, their furnishings, and women’s everyday lives.

Neville retired to Bellingham in 2003 to be near her son and his family. She volunteers at the Northwest Branch of the Washington State Archives, the Whatcom Museum, and NSEA (A local salmon restoration group). For the latter two, she has catalogued and arranged their libraries. She also serves on the advisory board of Nineteenth Century, the journal of the 19th Century Society. Neville received her BA in Art History from Swarthmore College and a BS in Library Science from Columbia University.

SUSAN THURSTON, graduate of the University of Washington, is a native of the East Side and has continued the family tradition of supporting the Bellevue Arts and Craft Fair, PNW Ballet, and Bellevue Art Museum.  Her interests also include the PACE Guild.  Mother of three, Susan is experienced in real estate sales and investment as well as stock brokerage and money management.  She enjoys skiing, tennis, boating, farming, and squiring her grandchildren around the city and country.