Kip Robinson Greenthal, Chair
Kip Greenthal first came to Lopez with her family at the age of seven. Her parents, Anne and Dwight Robinson, sent Kip to Henderson’s Camp, as it was then called, and the family fell in love with Lopez. The Robinsons bought the Cousins Farm property in 1960.
Kip earned a B.A. in English Literature and Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She spent 18 years as a librarian in schools and public libraries, including five years at the Lopez Library and Lopez School library. In 1993, she became the Education Director for Seattle Arts & Lectures, where she founded and directed the Writers in the Schools program until 2001.
Currently, Kip writes fulltime. She recently completed a revision for her first novel, Shoal Water. In 2000, she was selected for the 2000 Jack Straw Writers Program, and was also awarded a Hedgebrook residency. Her short story, “Tattoo Emporium,” has appeared in print, online, and through the publication of Currents, an anthology published by the Lopez Writers Guild in 2004. In January 2007, Elizabeth Austen selected Kip’s short story “Stealing” to be aired on KUOW’s On the Beat. Kip is currently at work on her second novel, East Lee, a story about leaving her old family home.
When she isn’t writing, Kip enjoys gardening, rowing, hiking, and walking. She has served on the board for two years and believes that the LIFRC plays an important role connecting people of all ages with educational opportunities and helping families sustain their lives on Lopez. Her connection to the LIFRC has made her feel more a part of the Lopez community. She particularly enjoys learning about the needs of local families and helping with our annual fundraiser event.
Molly Bill
Molly Bill’s Lopez roots date back to her years as a teenager, when, she writes, “I came to Lopez on weekends with a dear high school friend of mine, to share secrets and explore mossy knolls and rocky shores.” In 1964, Molly’s parents bought land here and the island became a part-time family retreat, but Molly headed off to college. After graduating from the University of Washington, Molly moved to New England and eventually to Maine, where she attended a wooden boatbuilding school. While there, she met her husband, Steven Brouwer. Molly and Steven spent ten years on the Maine coast, then moved with their two young sons to live on Molly’s mother’s sheep and angora goat farm, vowing to stay only a year. By then, several of the Bill family had become full-time residents on Lopez.
Molly and Steven settled into island life and simply never left. “We felt,” says Molly, “that the strong community would nurture us and our children as they grew into young adults.” Raising three sons meant that Molly became an active parent in the schools. She worked various odd jobs, eventually becoming a home health caregiver. Currently, Molly works as a landscape gardener. She continues to keep a small flock of sheep which she inherited from her mother.
Molly says her special interests include “rowing on a calm winter morning with my husband in one of the small boats he has built; sailing, hiking, and gardening; and getting to know some of the mid-20-year-olds who are wanting to find a way to live on Lopez.”
Seeking to give back to the community, Molly joined the board of the LIFRC in 2008. “There are so many non-profits on this island,” she says, “but I particularly value this organization for the multitudinous ways in which it works to serve – and preserve – our diverse island population.”
Bill Evans
Bill Evans came to Lopez Island in 2005 to be Superintendent for the Lopez School District. He left that position for two years in 2009 and came back in 2011. Bill has been in education for almost 40 years as a teacher and administrator for students of ALL ages. He is currently the Superintendent for the Lopez Island School District.
Bill and his family love living on Lopez for its sense of community. Bill is pleased to be serving a community and a school that evidences such strong support for education of the whole child.
He is honored to be part of the LIFRC. “The school and the LIFRC have always enjoyed a very positive and contributing relationship, one of significant importance to both. On behalf of the school we are so grateful for the care and service the LIFRC provides to our children and their families.”
“The LIFRC and its work is absolutely essential to maintaining the health, vitality, and sense of community, of Lopez. It is an essential element in the nurturing and maintenance of healthy families and individuals on Lopez. An effective and wholesome community is only as strong and effective as the degree to which it looks after the needs of its most needy families and individuals. As we are able to attend to the needs of those most in need, so shall our community grow and flourish. The LIFRC does this for our Lopez community and I am glad to be a part of its good work.”
Roland MacNichol
Roland MacNichol moved to Lopez in 2004 to become the K-12 Principal at Lopez Island School, a position he held for five years before retiring in 2009. He returned to the school as the half-time interim principal for the 2010-2011 school year.
Joining the LIFRC board in 2004 seemed like a natural extension of Roland’s position at the school, as the two organizations have a very close partnership working with children and families on the Island. Roland appreciates the remarkably wide range of services offered by the LIFRC, and he believes that much of our effectiveness stems from the community’s trust in the LIFRC staff. Serving on the board, he says, is “a powerful way to help strengthen the fabric of this great community,” and he is honored to support the staff and volunteers who make it all possible. Roland is especially passionate about nurturing the partnership between the school and the LIFRC.
Roland completed undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Puget Sound. After teaching high school history and humanities for 22 years in Gig Harbor, he began his career in school administration in Lakewood. Roland’s wife Terri works as a public health nurse in Friday Harbor for the San Juan County Health Department. Roland and Terri have two daughters who live in Bozeman, Montana. The MacNichols enjoy spending time at a family ranch in Stanley, Idaho, where they hike, flyfish, and backpack in the summer and cross-country ski and snowshoe in the winter.
Jerome Marshak
A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Jerome Marshak studied law at Washington University but chose to make art his life’s work. He moved to Lopez in 1981 and raised five children here. A nationally recognized artist, Jerome’s work has been displayed in Los Angeles, New York City, and throughout Washington State. Jerome describes his drawings as reductive and abstract. He joined the LIFRC board in 2004.
Pamela McCabe
Pamela McCabe and her husband have lived on Lopez part time since 1997. Pamela holds a BS in nursing and has been an active community volunteer, serving as a child advocate, mediator, and counselor. In addition, she has served on a variety of non-profit boards. Currently she serves on the Washington Women’s Foundation Board and the Seattle Parks Foundation Board. Pamela enjoys biking, hiking, kayaking, gardening, cooking, and competing with her Masters rowing team. She and her husband Bob enjoy travel and the joys of their grown children and families. Pamela joined the LIFRC board in 2009 and believes the Center provides important and creative programs that respond to the needs of families. She appreciates the opportunity to serve on the LIFRC board and to be a part of the Lopez community.
Beth Shirk
Beth Shirk joined the LIFRC Board of Directors in 2012. She first encountered Lopez Island many years ago while helping a friend move here. “I immediately fell in love with the island and its beauty,” she says. Beth kept coming back to the island for vacations. Now she is here to stay and be part of the community. In addition to volunteering, Beth enjoys building wooden kayaks and using them in the San Juans, cycling, hiking and crabbing.
She’s excited to be part of the Family Resource Center, an organization she’s known about for many years. “All the FRC staff and this community, are so focused on strengthening families. Lopez Island’s community is really awesome in its ability to reach out to others. I’m so proud to be a part of that.”
Lexi Taylor
Lexi Taylor’s journey took her from Boston to New York to Kenya to Seattle before she ever set foot on Lopez. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in education, Lexi taught elementary school in Nairobi, Kenya for eight years. She returned stateside in the early 80s and lived in Seattle for 25 years, 17 of which were spent running an environmental education program on water quality for King County. Her first introduction to Lopez came in 1985, when her friend Greg Ewert invited her to visit. Soon after, Lexi purchased land on the island and made the trip from Seattle as often as she could. In 2008, she and her husband KIRM moved here permanently, living in their shop until their house was completed in March 2010.
Lexi is glad to finally call Lopez home and is deeply involved in the community. Prior to joining the board just over a year ago, she did not realize the breadth of the LIFRC’s reach. She appreciates how we are helping people survive these times of financial stress while treating them with respect and compassion. Lexi says she is immensely proud to serve on the Board with such an amazing group of committed, kind, and very funny people. Besides her involvement in the LIFRC, Lexi also serves as the chairman of the board for the Lopez Center For Community & The Arts. And although these two positions keep her busy, she has recently returned to playing music after about 40 years. She eagerly anticipates the summertime, when her two sons and four grandkids visit her island home.
Rich Youde
A native of rural Oregon, Rich Youde joined the board in March 2011. After graduating with a degree in accounting from the University of Oregon, Rich worked as an accountant in several private companies in Oregon and California, then as Chief Financial Officer of several software companies in the Seattle area. Past volunteer experience includes serving for three years as treasurer of Eastside Literacy Council, a non-profit that helps adults in the Snoqualmie Valley learn to read. Rich’s wife Nancy has also been very active in adult literacy.
Rich and Nancy have had property on Lopez since 1989 but just built a house and moved here permanently in October 2010 following Rich’s retirement. When he isn’t cooking, gardening, or spending time with his wife and grown daughter, Rich plans to build a model train layout in the loft of his barn. Rich says he loves the care for others shown by Lopezians.
