Eleven community members serve on the board of directors.
Lisa and her family have lived in Boulder Creek since 1990. After spending many years working in engineering management positions at high-technology companies she concluded her career as the Vice-president of Product Operations for startup Sonics, Inc. and retired in 2000 to explore a wide variety of new interests, broadly associated with Historic Preservation.
She holds a BSc(hons) in Physics with Astrophysics from Leicester University, and certificates in Interior Restoration and Preservation, Interior Design and Computer Aided Drafting and Design. She is a member of the American Alliance of Museums, the California Association of Museums, the California Preservation Foundation, the Conference of California Historical Societies, and the Society of California Archivists.
She is a member of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) Landmark Committee and the MAH Publications Committee. She serves on the board of the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County and is the communicator for Santa Cruz County Researchers Anonymous.
She has authored two books on San Lorenzo Valley History and was the editor for the MAH publication Redwood Logging and Conservation in the Santa Cruz Mountains - A Split History.
Bob grew up in very rural Tillamook County, Oregon which was then an agricultural and resource economy. A very close-knit place with many of descendants of pioneer families (some living on "hundred-year" farms) and where folks took care of each other.
He moved to Boulder Creek in 1987, and has lived here since then in the same home. He has been involved in several volunteer activities through the years. In the late 1990s, Bob served on the board Valley Resource Center (now part of Community Bridges).
Bob graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BSEE/BSCS in Computer Engineering and holds a MBA from Harvard Business School. He has spent over 20 years in strategic engineering and market-facing roles in telecommunications and is currently the chief financial officer for Range Networks, Inc. where he leads product management and guides product strategy. He is a former vice-president of engineering at Aeris Communications and served as vice-president of strategic partnerships at GoBeam.
Bob was born and raised in Boulder Creek, Ca. His grandparents were Louis and Michelina Gho, who owned the Go-Inn from 1933-1975. His parents are Robert E. and Eleanor Presswood, owners of the Redwood Keg from 1973 - 1996. Bob took over ownership of the Redwood Keg in 1996
Bob graduated from San Lorenzo Valley High School in 1975 and began serving in the U. S. Navy from 1975-1979. He served on the U.S.S. Oklahoma City (CG-5) and with the Antarctic Development Squadron Six, which was the air wing of operation Deep Freeze. He held the title of Mess Management Specialist Second Class when he left the Navy
While serving in Christchurch, New Zealand, Bob met Jane, who became his wife. They have been married for 33 years and have one daughter
Bob is the Director and Historian of the San Lorenzo Valley Alumni Association, Commissioner of the Boulder Creek Fire Department, a life member of the Old Antarctic Explorers Association, and a member of the following organizations; US Navy Cruiser Sailors Association, the Navy League, USS Oklahoma City Association, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, KQED, National Geographic Society, the Marconi Club, Ducks Unlimited, and MENSA.
Liz grew up in the redwoods of the San Lorenzo Valley before enrolling in the University of California Berkeley to pursue a degree in anthropology and Celtic studies. While there she conducted research on specimens from the Museum of Invertebrate Zoology and interned with the Hearst Museum of Anthropology to rehouse collections items.
She continued her education at the University of Washington in Seattle where she earned a Master's degree in the little known field of Museology. In that program she gained a broad understanding of museums through courses and her work with the Burke Museum, the Woodland Park Zoo, and the Museum of Pop Culture.
In 2010, Liz joined the staff of the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History as their Visitor Services Manager, overseeing admission, the gift shop, and exhibits.
Liz is passionate about public understanding and engagement in science and is an all-around museum nerd.
When not at museums, she can be found exploring local parks or baking delicious treats.
Carmen and her husband have been living in Ben Lomond over 35 years. She has two grown children, a daughter in Boulder Creek and a son in Utah and now six grandchildren in all.
A teacher by profession as well as her passion, Carmen got her BA degree and Teaching Credential with a major in Spanish from Holy Names College in Oakland. At that time she met her husband, Rich a technician for Pacific Bell, and was married upon graduating.
She first taught in the Laguna Salada School District in Pacifica for a couple of years and then moved to Ben Lomond. Her love for the arts got her into studying the folk arts and then teaching decorative folk art painting classes in the area for ten years plus. Later she went back to teaching in the public school system teaching Spanish at CT English Middle School part time for a couple of years. Then she accepted a position at Boulder Creek Elementary, later teaching at Redwood Elementary where she taught until she retired. She taught every grade level in the elementary grades except for Kindergarten during her fifteen year teaching career. Most of that time, however, was spent teaching fifth grade which was the perfect outlet for applying her expertise and love of the folk arts.
Carmen retired in 2001 to have time for playing with her grandchildren, pursuing her arts and crafts interests, gardening, hiking, working out, and knitting among others. She volunteers for Valley Churches United, is a tutor for the Literacy Program of Santa Cruz County and leads the Museum's K2-K3 School Outreach program.
Lucia was born and raised in Alameda, CA. As a child growing up in an urban setting with access to a safe public transportation system, frequent visits were made to the wonderful small museums in Oakland. These three museums were later condensed into the Oakland Museum of California.
After marrying a member of the Armed Forces, Lucia lived overseas for 7 years, in Japan (son #1 was born), Germany (son #2 was born), and England. Upon return to the US, She attended Solano Community College, receiving an AA degree, and spent another year Sonoma State University.
The next 20 years were spent working at the University Library at UC Davis in the Access Services Department. Lucia was subsequently hired by McHenry Library, UC Santa Cruz, where she worked for 3 ½ years. Upon retirement from the UC system, she worked part-time for 3 ½ years as the Volunteer Coordinator at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center.
After moving from Davis to Santa Cruz, Lucia became entranced with the natural and cultural history of Santa Cruz County, and became a docent at Henry Cowell Redwood State Park. She also became the historical interpreter at Alba School in Ben Lomond where she was provided access to the archives and compiled the history of the School.
Lucia also was fortunate enough to take a 2-semester course of Santa Cruz County History with Sandy Lydon at Cabrillo College. Later, her boots met the sand with a walk around Monterey Bay with Sandy Lydon and Gary Griggs, highlighting the history of the Bay as well as the geology.
Deborah Osterberg was raised in Capitola and now lives on her family’s Bonny Doon ranch. While obtaining a B.A. degree in history and geography at California State University– Chico, Deborah worked seasonally for the National Park Service (NPS) starting at Yellowstone National Park. After further seasonal work at Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Parks and Minute Man National Historical Site, she spent two years as a civilian employee at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. After graduate study at the University of California– Santa Barbara, she returned to Sequoia, where she began a career in curation and helped initiate the park archives and arranged centennial commemorations for California’s first national park.
Deborah then served as the lead interpreter at Eugene O’Neill National Historic Site in Danville, California where she developed a love of theater and became a long-time devotee of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the American Conservatory Theater. She became a Civil War abolitionist reenactor while serving as museum curator of Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston, South Carolina. There she also managed the museum collections of a Constitutional Convention delegate at Charles Pinckney National Historic Site and for the Revolutionary War site, Moores Creek National Battlefield. At Mount Rainier National Park in 1999, Deborah assisted with another park centennial celebration and helped establish the park archives.
For ten years she worked at the National Archives at San Francisco, specializing in Federal land agency and Bureau of Indian Affairs records. When Deborah returned to the Santa Cruz Mountains in 2014, she joined the Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County and soon began researching local history. As a volunteer at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, Deborah dons Victorian clothing and interprets the resort-era history of Big Trees Grove. The culmination of her park research came in 2020 with the History Press publication of her book, Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park – Big Trees Grove which traces the history of the first redwood resort (1867-1930) and the role it played in the appreciation and preservation of the redwoods.
Karin is a native of California. She moved to Boulder Creek in 1977 when she and her uncle purchased Joe's Bar. She is now the sole owner.
She quickly became active in the community starting an adopt-a-family program at Joe's Bar. They, together with Valley Churches United Missions, adopt four to seven families at holiday time. Valley Churches selects the special needs families for the program. Joe's Bar hosts many fundraisers including the Annual Pig Roast, the St. Patrick's Day Corned Beef Feed, and the Annual Christmas Party. All proceeds from the sale of shirts and hats are also donated.
Karin also supports the Boulder Creek Fire Department assisting with two of their fundraisers; the Red Hot, Red Hat Golf Tournament and the Firemen's Ball.
Karin is an outdoor enthusiast, she loves her garden, camping, biking, swimming and snow skiing. She also enjoys traveling and, most recently, spent time in South America visiting Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Panama. She has three daughters who graduated from San Lorenzo Valley High School. She loves spending time with them, their husbands and her 12 grandchildren.At the museum her favorite projects are the 4th of July Parade, Summer Community Barbecue, and the Children's Christmas Trim-a-Tree Day.
Stephen is a graduate of Cabrillo College (AA Liberal Studies), UC Santa Cruz (BA Anthropology), San Jose State University (MA History), and UC Santa Barbara (PhD Public Historical Studies). His publications include books and articles on the history of the Santa Cruz Mountains, Santa Clara County, and the sardine industry in Monterey, California, as well as on imperialism and military history. He is a member of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History Publications Committee and a member of the National Council on Public History
Stephen has lived in the Santa Curz Mountains since he left active duty with the Navy Seabees in 1968. He taught history at San Jose State University in the 1980s, was the broker of Loma Prieta Properties until 1994 when he became the Command Historian at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). While at DLIFLC he also served as the Associate Provost, Senior Vice Chancellor, and Interim Chancellor, as well as the DLIFLC Accreditation Liaison to the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges and led the successful Associate of Arts degree granting effort. He retired from DLIFLC in 2019.
Gail was born and raised in the Santa Clara Valley and has lived in Ben Lomond for 26 years. She have one adult daughter who resides in Arizona.
Gail has spent most of her working career in the Santa Clara Valley working for the county at the Valley Transportation Agency retiring and then working for Local 104 in the Sheet Metal industry. Retiring finally last year.
She has always loved local history and has taken many history classes at Cabrillo College with Sandy Lydon and have traveled extensively with his groups of fellow history buffs.
She enjoys volunteering and is an active volunteer with Mountain Parks Foundation where she served as a board member for 10 years. She has also volunteered for Valley Churches United, The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, she has been a docent at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and Big Basin Redwoods State Park, and has recently been involved with the Vets4Vets program.
Laura DeAngelis (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who has lived in Boulder Creek since 2013. She relates her art practice to a meditation on being in the world. Deeply influenced by her home in the redwood forest, she sources material from her surroundings as a means to better understand her relationship to time and place. Her work utilizes photography, performance, sculpture and installation as through lines to prompt deeper questions surrounding the human condition and our interconnection to the natural world.
Prior to accepting the role of Executive Director for the San Lorenzo Valley Museum, Laura taught as a Studio Artist Educator for the San Jose Museum of Art conducting studio art programming for diverse youth and adult audiences. During her time at SJMA, she spent quite a bit of time researching the museum collection, archives and current exhibitions to develop K-12 STEAM based curriculum. While her experience in San Jose was incredibly rewarding, she knew that her true passion was to serve her local community in the San Lorenzo Valley.
In 2021, Laura completed her MFA in Studio Art from Mills College and was a recipient of the Jay Defeo MFA Prize and inaugural Nancy Cook Fellowship. While at Mills, she spent most of her time in the Photography Department where she taught Darkroom and performed the role of Photography Lab Technician. Her thesis exhibition was installed in the Mills College Art Museum and featured a place-based installation that responded to the CZU Lightening Complex Fires of 2020.
Laura earned an MA in Studio Art from California State University of Sacramento in 2012 and a BA in Art, with emphasis in photography, from University of Nevada in Reno in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys going on road trips, soaking in hot springs, reading, hiking and spending quality time with her husband and cat.
Judy is the Vice President/Manager of Liberty Bank – Felton and Boulder Creek Office. Prior to Liberty Bank, Judy worked 37 years for County Bank of Santa Cruz, which then became Pacific Western and then Comerica Bank. Judy resides with her husband Paul Garske in Felton which is where they have lived since 1957. She enjoys volunteering in our community and belongs to several non profit organizations such as Mountain Parks Foundation (21 yrs.), San Lorenzo Valley Rotary(4 yrs), Felton Cemetery Association (10 yrs), Felton Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary( 38 yrs) and the Felton Business Association (4 yrs).
Mark has lived in the San Lorenzo Valley since 1974. His home is situated on a bend in the San Lorenzo River where, a century ago, the whistlestop on the South Pacific Coast Railroad known as Harris Station marked the entrance to Camp Joy, a boys’ summer camp that briefly operated in the area. Before that, the property had been the site of Boulder Mill.
He moved to Boulder Creek when he joined the faculty of UCSC, where he taught for forty years as Professor of History and Sociology. Although his academic focus was centered in Europe, he has long maintained a lively interest in local history and formerly taught classes on the subject at the university. His early fascination with the history of the local area was stimulated by Bea Bushnell and Barbara Kennedy, two stalwarts of the San Lorenzo Valley Museum and its predecessor, the Boulder Creek Historical Society.
The Museum office is located at:12547 Highway 9, Boulder CreekOffice Hours: Wednesday & Friday 1-4pm Please call or email for an appointment.