About our staff and contributors

Phil Bauer, distribution coordinator, is a retired commercial airline pilot. A Key Peninsula resident for nearly 20 years, he took advantage of retirement to become involved in the local community. He has served on the Civic Center board for more than six years and is a past president; he is also actively involved with the KP Fair Association and the Two Waters Arts Alliance. Phil has engaged the help of local community supporters Frank Slater, Gary Gebo, Ben Thompson, Tom Howard and Dave Stratford, a former Civic Center president, and together they make sure the newspaper is delivered to the readers every month.

Charleen Day, advertising representative, has a diverse background in advertising, starting with an 8-page tabloid direct mail advertiser in 1987. She has also worked for Yellow Pages and Val-Pak. Charleen and her husband, George, were both born and raised in Upstate New York, but first experienced the Olympic Peninsula in 1973, when George was stationed at the Puget Sound Naval Station. They returned to the Olympic Peninsula, settling in Port Orchard in 1976, and moved to the Key Peninsula in March 2005 to be closer to their church family at Vaughn Community Church. They have three sons and daughters-in-law and five grandchildren.

William C. Dietz, staff writer and publishing board secretary, grew up in the Seattle area, spent time with the Navy and Marine Corps as a medic, graduated from the University of Washington, lived in Africa for half a year, and has visited six continents. He has been variously employed as a surgical technician, college instructor, television producer, director of public relations and marketing for an international telephone company, and presently works as a freelance writer. He and his wife, Marjorie, enjoy traveling, kayaking, snorkeling, and reading books.

S.D. Galindo, staff writer, is director of Admin/student dean for an online graduate program. Through CatwalkCommunications.com  she provides custom writing and research services for clients in the United States and Canada. She holds a masters degree in education and a 2-year certificate in visual communication, and is now pursuing an MBA. She studied in the United States, Canada and the UK, and has traveled in Europe and Scandinavia. An officer on her community Board of Trustees for 3 years, she supports compassionate animal charities as a volunteer. She enjoys her cats, home and garden, and has loved photography ever since her grandfather gave her a Kodak Duaflex III in the 1960s. She created 5Kittens.com to focus on her first love -- cat photography.

Sharon Hicks, staff writer, moved to the Key Peninsula in July 2000 to retire with her husband, Harvey, on beautiful Case Inlet and Vaughn Bay. She was born in Montana and raised in Washington. She worked many years as a dental assistant, lived in California for 14 years and returned to the lush greenery of Washington state, where she had an exciting job with the King County Convention Bureau, meeting people from all walks of life. While in California, Sharon became a professional cake decorator and also taught decorating classes in stores. She still indulges in that kind of work when an occasion rises, especially with weddings.  Her real love is painting, from decorative and murals to acrylics on canvas. Sharon and Harvey have three children (one deceased) and have been blessed with six grandchildren. After boating for 19 years, they now have a RV and enjoy their Australian Shepard and two cats. Sharon loves to help others, doing service work for a nonprofit organization, and volunteering where she can.

September Hyde, paginator and advertising sales agent, has lived on the Key Peninsula since 2000 with her husband, Jim, 6-year-old son, Mason, and 3-year-old daughter, Raina. After working three years at the Peninsula Gateway newspaper as a page designer and later the news editor, September left in 2003 to be a full-time mom and part-time graphic designer. September attended Central Washington University and graduated in 1999 with a double degree in print journalism and public relations with an emphasis on business administration. She has also worked for the Kitsap Newspaper Group, Kingston/Bainbridge Island/Poulsbo Community newspapers and the Daily Record in Ellensburg. In her spare time she likes to garden, play bingo, dabble in real estate and spend time with her family.

Mindi LaRose, staff photographer, lived in the southeast suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona for most of her life. In Arizona, she was a legal secretary and paralegal, respectively, for 16 years. She and her husband, David, and their two girls moved to the Key Peninsula in July 2004, and were instantly enamored with the natural beauty of the area. Her passion for photography started when she was a very young girl, spending hours studying family photo albums. In addition to photography, she enjoys volunteering in this great community and traveling.

Debra McElroy, sales representative, has been on a service-oriented career path for more than a decade. She is a former owner of a coffee shop in Seattle and a real estate agent. Born in Moses Lake, she was raised in many different places: Hopland & Ukiah, California, Seattle, Ellensburg & Thorp, Wash., but calls the Key Peninsula home, where she lives with three dogs and her husband, Ray. She has experienced a love affair with poetry that has lasted 37 years and has been a featured poet at many readings around the Northwest.

Hugh McMillan, staff writer/photographer, moved with his family to Tacoma when he was 3 years old from New Westminster, B.C. After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, and thereafter the Air Force, he attended several colleges and universities. He took his bachelor's degree and wife Janice from the University of Puget Sound, spent just short of 27 years as an operations officer of the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C, Japan (where sons Lance and Marshall were born), India, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and San Francisco, and retired to Home in 1978. His community involvement includes being a fire commissioner for 14 years, a founding member of Citizens Against Crime, and an extensive list of other organizations including being a charter member of the KP Lions, Peninsula Schools Education Foundation, and Communities in Schools Peninsula. He has been a volunteer photojournalist with the KP News and Peninsula Gateway for 27 years.

Bret Nebel, webmaster, met and married Rosie Rosenbach and moved to VonGeldern Cove on Key Peninsula in 1995. Bret was born and raised in New York City, was in physics at the University of Chicago and math at UCLA. He has been in computers and computer programming for more than 30 years and now runs his company, Benco Systems, Inc., providing web programming and network security solutions in Washington and Canada. He has had some experience with daily newspapers on the staff at the LA Times and worked under contract with the New York Times providing programs for classified section composition, editorial systems and newspaper plant production systems. He loves working with newspaper people and enjoys playing a small part in fulfilling a vision of the Key Pen News staff.

Kristen Pierce, staff writer, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. As a little girl, she and her parents moved to the more countrified area of New York in the suburbs of Long Island. In 1984, she and her mother moved to Tucson, Ariz. There, Kristen completed her education, married, and raised a child. In June 2004, she and her skeptical husband, teen-age son, and beloved cat Maui, moved to the Key Peninsula in search of a calmer lifestyle and cooler climate. Kristen admired the rural simplicity and strong sense of community values of this area. She has become a member of the Vaughn Historical Society, KGI Watershed Counsel, and the K.P. News. Although she has always loved to write and draw, she also enjoys gardening, interior design, photography, drumming, and spending time with her teen-age son and husband.

Connie Renz, community pages editor and proofreader, taught fourth grade and K-6 math for 32 years, and conducted math seminars for parents, teachers and administrators. She has bachelor degrees in English and K-12 education (and almost a master’s degree in math). Her family fled the confines of Spokane and moved to Western Washington 27 years ago. After searching for an ideal home for retirement -- a smaller home with forested acreage -- they moved to the Key Peninsula in August 2003. She keeps busy with her husband, two children, and five school-aged grandkids; their rescued greyhounds, mentoring kids from K-4, proofreading, knitting and sewing, swimming, traveling in their motor home, cruising to car shows in her husband's '32 Ford roadster, managing their HOA and volunteering for other groups.

Colleen Slater, staff writer, has been writing since she was 6 years old. Raised mostly in Vaughn, she and husband Frank returned to Vaughn in 1989 to build a retirement home. She has contributed to Key Pen News since returning to Vaughn, writes two monthly columns for the Peninsula Gateway, and has published essays, articles, poetry and short fiction in various formats. Her book, “The Key Peninsula,” was published in 2007. She is a member of Gig Harbor Writers Circle, Key Peninsula Writers' Guild, Historic Vaughn Bay Church, Key Peninsula Historic Society, Key Singers, Peninsula Writers Association, and Vaughn Bay Garden Club. They have four adult children, 15 grandchildren. She enjoys music, genealogy, gardening, travel and spending time with family.

Frank Slater, staff photographer and publishing board vice president, is a retired math teacher. He is a member of Key Singers, Historic Vaughn Bay Church, and a 60-year Grange member. He has built their Vaughn home, starting from cutting timber and milling the lumber. His hobbies are sailing, hiking, music, gardening, travel and family get-togethers.

Rodika Tollefson, executive editor, has written for a variety of newspapers, magazines and newsletters including national and international. She holds a BA in journalism and public communications degree cum laude from the University of Alaska Anchorage, where she received the Outstanding Journalism Graduate of the Year award. She is also currently an associate editor and writer for WestSound Home & Garden Magazine, a longtime writer for Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal, and former reporter for the Peninsula Gateway, and former MSNBC online writer for an NBC affiliate. She has received various journalism and professional awards for her writing and other contributions, including, most recently, being selected as a member of the 40 Under 40 class of 2007 by Kitsap Business Journal. Rodika moved from Alaska in 2000 and settled on the Key Peninsula with her husband and three sons. She writes creative nonfiction and pursues photography as a creative outlet.  

Irene Torres, staff writer, relocated from Eastern Washington to Vaughn in 2000. Her passions for civic responsibility, life-long learning, and two-way communication are evident in her community volunteer work. She served on the interim Board of Directors for the Key Peninsula Community Council, and still volunteers with that group on occasion. Irene is a manager for a clinical outsourcing firm in Federal Way. Her professional career in physician credentialing and medical staff management spans nearly 30 years. She is on the leadership board for the Washington Association of Medical Staff Services and is a trusted mentor for others in her field. An avid volunteer with the KP News since it was reestablished, Irene has served as president of its Publishing Board since 2004.

Danna Webster, assistant editor and staff writer, spent 25 years inflicting her enthusiasm for the skills of writing upon elementary students. During her teaching career, she wrote about the process of student writing for an education journal, and policy language resolutions for the National Education Association. She indulges her love of writing at her Rocky Bay home on the Key Peninsula and volunteers for such organizations as the KP Writers’ Guild and the KP Community Council.

Karina Whitmarsh, staff photographer, began her work in photography in elementary school. Originally from Southern California, she moved to Lakebay with her family in March 2006. She has a bachelor’s degree in communications from Portland State University. Her interests include photography, cooking, exploring the greater Puget Sound area, mentoring young people, and mushroom hunting. In addition to her work for the KP News, Karina is also employed as an aerobics instructor at the Gig Harbor YMCA. She is married to Dan, a Seattle native, and together they have two beautiful, energetic daughters.

Regular contributors

Jerry Libstaff, born in Detroit, Mich., left for the West Coast at 17. He spent a year in Alaska and two in California, then ended in Eugene, Ore. “because of the University” and spent the next decade there. In 1983, his wife drew him to Washington, where they discovered the Key Peninsula and “finally came home.” Jerry has been a writer since grade school. In fifth grade, his class was instructed to “write a story with a nonstandard ending, to be creative and original.” A few days later he sat in the principal’s office with his family to explain that his story of family violence was completely fictional. “It was then I realized the power of words,” he says. Jerry worked as a technical writer and a course developer. He has produced two novels, a screenplay and numerous short stories. His work has appeared in magazines and newspapers across the West Coast.

Jud Morris, guest columnist, is the program manager of the Key Peninsula Family Resource Center, and president of the Key Peninsula Business Association. He has lived and worked in a variety of places (rural, rurban, and urban) throughout the country, and has been involved in human services and schools for over 40 years. Jud has written several articles on rural communities, a couple of books, and produced a film on community building in rural towns. He is very interested and involved in the wellbeing of the residents of the Key Peninsula and the local community.

Kevin Reed, guest columnist, is relatively new to the Key Peninsula. An East-Coast transplant, he spent time in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina over the years. His past jobs have included strawberry picker, pesticide salesperson, bartender, pool-side grill cook, table-side oyster-shucker, convention center custodian and late-night cubicle setter-upper in D.C. office buildings, among others. For the past 14 years he's been developing and managing training in various formats for manufacturing and military clients. Kevin lives on the south end with his wife, son, and trusty Australian Shepherd. He writes on the side for kicks.

Rick Sorrels, guest columnist, is a longtime local resident whose great-grandfather was the first settler in the region of Puget Sound just north of Gig Harbor. His diverse background includes the fields of education, engineering, military, technology, ecology, architecture, safety, and the law. He holds teaching credentials for secondary and college, and has trained rescue and pararescue aircrew members. Rick constructed prototype electric vehicles in the 1970s, and is “into” ecology. He has written war plans for the Pentagon, carried a diplomatic passport through the Middle East, and investigated homicides in the Midwest. Now, for fun, he makes jousting equipment and is a vocal conscience for politicians, in an attempt to keep them accountable for their actions.

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