About Us – Staff – Mission and Vision – Annual Report
Lopez Hamlet 2024 Board of Directors
From left to right: Karen Gilbert, Nancy Wynen, Gayle Kellner (GGK), Shannon Wilbur, Barbara Orcutt, June Coover, and Kip Greenthal.
(Not pictured: Mary Ann Cameron and Chris Wiscomb)
Barbara Orcutt, Chair
Barbara is a lactation specialist and parent educator with a master’s degree in Family and Child Nursing. Barbara’s mom, Gale, was the first Hamlet resident and lived at the Cottages and Hamlet House. Barbara provides interim nursing backup at Hamlet House when Cathy Doherty (ARNP) is off island.
Shannon Wilbur, Vice Chair
Shannon worked for 33 years as a civil engineer in California and Washington. She moved from Seattle to Lopez Island in 2002 with her family. In 2023, she retired from San Juan County Public Works where she managed the funding, planning, design, and construction of various trail and road projects. With retirement, she is now able to spend more time traveling, exploring with her young grandson, playing music, quilting, and volunteering.
Chris Wiscomb, Treasurer
Chris currently works at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. He was born on Orcas but spent many of his formative years in Seattle. Moving to Lopez after high school, Chris lived in a tipi while waiting tables at the Galley and crewing on a fishing boat until he left the islands again for College. After working as a Civil Engineer for 16 years in Seattle, Chris found an opportunity to bring his newly started family to Lopez.
Mary Ann Cameron, Secretary
Mary Ann is a native Washingtonian and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Communications. She worked in health care public relations for several Seattle hospitals as well as Blue Cross, and also was associated with Rick Steves’ Europe for many years. She has served on the Board of Directors for REI and the Edmonds Arts Festival, and is a board member for the Lopez Island Vineyards and Winery. She first visited Lopez in 1965 and she and her husband have owned property on the island since 1989. Mary Ann has been an active volunteer with the Lopez Thrift Shop for more than 30 years. She guided her mother through the maze of senior living “opportunities” in her golden years, and learned much in the process of going from independent living to assisted living to nursing home care. Her “been there, done that” experience makes her very grateful for the resource The Hamlet is for the Lopez community.
June Coover
June Coover retired in 2022 after a 35 year career in the field of environmental consulting, most recently as a partner in a global firm whose focus was sustainability. She and her husband moved to Lopez in summer of 2019 and have fallen in love with the community and its people. June’s passion is helping people and she also serves on the board for Lopez Island Home and Hospice Support. When not volunteering, she and her husband spend time with their kids who are scattered down the west coast and in nature camping, hiking and loving the natural wonders of this world!
Gayle G Kellner (GGK)
GGK is a native of the Pacific Northwest and has lived most of her life on Vashon Island as well as San Juan and Orcas Islands. She first set foot on Lopez in 1979 and instantly fell in love with its bucolic beauty. Most of her professional life she’s been an educator as well as an artist, poet and parent. She loves walking, bike riding, swimming, reading, and gardening. Most recently, she wrote her first book, Hope, A History of the Future, which celebrated its first birthday this past spring (2023).
Karen Gilbert
Karen grew up in Portland and spent her 20’s as an organic farmer. She got her nursing bachelor’s degree in her early 30’s and worked as a hospice and home health nurse for 18 years for Hospice of Seattle, then Skagit Home Health and Hospice (became Hospice of the Northwest). She got her masters in geriatric and adult nursing at UW in Seattle in 2004 and worked as a nurse practitioner for the oncology practice in Skagit County for 10 years, followed by work in the Palliative Care Service at Skagit Valley Hospital and for Hospice of the Northwest until 2017. Since retirement, she has volunteered with the local vaccine clinics and the American Red Cross as an RN.
Kip Greenthal
Kip Robinson Greenthal worked in school and public libraries for eighteen years. In 1993, she founded and directed Seattle Arts & Lectures’ award winning Writers in the Schools program. She has attended Hedgebrook and participated in the Jack Straw Writers Program, and has published several short stories. Her first novel, Shoal Water, published by Homebound Publications in October, 2021, won the Landmark Prize for Fiction and a 2022 Silver Nautilus Award. Working on a second novel, she now lives on Lopez Island full-time with her husband, Stanley Greenthal.
Nancy Wynen
Nancy retired as Vicar of Grace Church in 2018. Before coming to Lopez in 2012, she and her husband Fons lived in Florida for 25 years. She was a university librarian and in 2002 went to seminary. Among her community activities, Nancy was a Scout leader (Girl, Boy, & Sea Scout) and member of the Palm Beach County Hurricane Response Council. Now on Lopez, she is sharpening her skills in photography and quilting – and finding time to travel (especial to visit her daughter Katie).