Meet Selma Center Staff Members and Community Volunteers

Meet our staff, members, and volunteers!

Joy Boothroyd is a former ranch girl, fishing guide, legal assistant, and hunter/gatherer from Colorado. She has only been an Oregonian since 1999 and still owns some suits, but is happiest playing in the dirt. Her vices include a factory 304/4 spd CJ7 Jeep, Titan the Great Dane, and an outspoken love for Creator. Joy's mission as a SCEC Board member is to help represent all community members at the Selma Center and to help develop additional educational events. Although cranky at times, Joy likes to help with simple things, often shows childlike enthusiasm, and knows some good tall tales.

Terry Crawford moved to Selma with her husband in 2005. She has a variety of animals, including two newly captured mustangs which she is working to gentle with the help of a trainer. She also enjoys gardening, photography and visits from eight children. Her background is in Occupational Therapy and she was a foster mother to over a hundred special needs newborns. She has enjoyed putting together the Children’s Room, working on the pole barn, starting a photography club and organizing Santa pictures at the Selma Center.

Tom Crawford retired to Selma in 2005 from a career with Bank of America and General Electric. He had gone from being a chemist to doing business management specializing in computer systems. Tom thought his retirement would be full of woodwork in his shop but there always seems to be broken pipes, fences that need mending, or siding to be replaced. Tom worked on the pole barn, learning to “move” stucco, guide swinging logs and screw in saddles. He continues to do occasional fix-it jobs at the Selma Center.

Linda Falge does web site design and maintenance for the SCEC. She has lived in the Illinois Valley since 1989, and is a self-employed fine artist and web site designer. She also enjoys animals, the internet, and the Spanish language, and claims to have the best dog in the world.

Joan Hardie works in the office at the Center one day a week. She serves on the Board of Directors and tries to bring a positive and open mind to problems. Joan's interest in the Selma Center started with the Library. She volunteered to help set up the library and from there her interest grew. She feels the Center is a great place for the Illinois Valley residents to come together to work, play and have a good time. Joan likes to garden in her spare time. She and her husband Wally like to have friends over for good conversations and to share a glass of wine while enjoying a great meal. Wally and Joan have three dogs, two cats, and love their new home in Selma!

William ("Mort") Mondale grew up in southern Minnesota, graduated from the Fairmont, Minn. High School and Hamline University. He taught instrumental music for seventeen years, was president of the Minnesota Education Association in the mid-70's and moved to the organizing and training staff of the South Dakota Education Association and retired from the National Education Association in 1996. After looking for three years prior to retirement, Mort and his wife Elaine Wood moved to Selma. Mort agreed to assume the first SCEC Board chairmanship which he held for a little over a year. Following his term as chair, he and Elaine have volunteered at the Center in the belief that its spirit and activities contributed much to the Selma community. Volunteer activities have focussed on building maintenance, recycling projects and meal-related activities. Mort and Elaine's home activities include their four dogs, two cats and three birds, environmental activisim, politics and photography.

Connie Nielson is a retired RN who, along with her husband Vern owned and operated a large farm in Eastern Oregon for 25 years. She and her husband moved to Cave Junction in 1999. Connie has volunteered for several projects at SCEC and is currently an office volunteer. She enjoys computer games, reading and playing pinochle.

Kay Nielson grew up on a large farm in Eastern Oregon. She recently opened her own Physical Therapy and Massage Office in Selma. She has been involved with SCEC since it began, organizing basketball, volunteering in the office, and spear-heading the new format of ‘The Villager’. She loves hiking, flowers, animals, and swimming.

Reni Schaeffer immigrated to the US from Germany when she was 20 years old. She lived in California and Georgia before moving to Oregon and has been a resident of the IV since September 1991. Reni's children still live in the South and she enjoys traveling there as often as possible. She was a professional Realtor and planned to retire when she moved to the valley to be near where her sister lived. But soon after settling in, she accepted a position to manage a Bed & Breakfast in the valley. That was a great experience and she met many wonderful people from around the world. It also helped her to brush up on her German language with many of the visitors. This position lasted longer than she expected and after about four and one half years, and also newly wed, Reni moved to O'Brien, where she devoted the next eight years to gourd crafting. Since then, Reni has turned her talents to mixed media. Her favorite work is fiber art wall hangings, collage and assemblage, as well as polymer clay bead making. Throughout her life, Reni has volunteered in her community, usually working with children. Here in the valley, as a volunteer, she works with middle school children in the "Learning Through Art" program sponsored by the Arts Council. In the spring of 2006, Reni walked into the Selma Community center and offered to organize the library. It took many months and two other loyal volunteers to get the job done. In the fall of 2006, Reni was elected to the board of the SCEC. Her goal is to increase membership and volunteers, so that the center can provide the services our members deserve.

"Maggie" Lynne Sorgen has worked in the non-profit world for the past 18 years, and is the very proud mother of two grown daughters. She finally got to move to her 5.5 acre sanctuary in the Illinois Valley in Sept 2006 where life has blossomed from good, to better, to best yet! First drawn to SCEC by the Farmer's Market and then the library, Maggie found the vital community spirit that she loves. She came onboard as a SCEC Board member and Secretary with delight. Maggie and her partner, Don Canaday, work as artists - she carving stone and putting the finishing touches on whimsical frogs - and he creating beauty in a multitude of forms. Maggie believes that every persons life story is worth a novel (some racier than others) and is interested in facilitating a workshop on "Writing Your Life Story" at SCEC soon!

Marcy Sowa was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest where she developed a love of the outdoors, gardening, books, and cats. She is an office volunteer, writes articles for the newsletter, and is a past chair of the Board of Directors. Marcy volunteers at the community center because she believes community is our most precious resource.

Pamela Tennity is a non-profit consultant, an R.N., and mother of two grown sons. Having learned to backpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains, she moved to southern Oregon in 1987. She began working for non-profit organizations, and expanded her love of nature to include gardening in her own backyard. She is a certified mediator, and spends her leisure time helping out at the Selma Community Center, preserving food, and spending as much time as possible with her four young grand-daughters.