Mini Bios

Jon Burpee became superintendent of Lewis & Clark National Historical Park, headquartered at Fort Clatsop, in January 2017. He holds a degree in history from the University of Washington and has completed work toward his master's degree in resources interpretation at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Over his career, Jon has worked at Death Valley National Park, Fort Frederica National Monument in Georgia, and Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in Florida. Most recently, he was superintendent at the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument in Las Vegas. As its first superintendent, he was credited with working closely with community partners to garner universal support for the park. He is a former National Park Service Bevinetto Congressional Fellow. The fellowship included spending a year as a Senate Energy and National Resources Committee staff member and another year working in the Park Service's Office of Congressional and Legislative Affairs.

Jon’s wife, Julie, worked as a park ranger in six different national parks and is now a teacher. Their kids are Thomas and Susannah.

Lisa joined the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center in January 2020 as Director of Education. She most recently worked as Director of the Columbia Gorge Veterans Museum in The Dalles, and as a grant writer for the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum (WAAAM) in Hood River. Lisa is a fifth generation Wasco County resident on her mother’s side, and enjoys talking about both the horse thieves and preachers that are part of her Oregon heritage. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Seattle Pacific University, specializing in adult education and curriculum development.

Lisa previously worked at the University of Washington as Assistant Program Director in the Continuing Education department. She directed the Project Management Certificate Program, comprised of over 40 instructors and more than 400 students. Prior to that, Lisa was Director of Curriculum Development in the adult degree completion program for Northwest University in Kirkland, WA. She also taught history, political science and student success courses for the program.

Lisa is a fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, and avid reader of British cozy murder mysteries. She also admits to the guilty pleasure of watching NCIS New Orleans, which features her favorite American city. She has traveled and/or lived for extended periods in England, Spain, France, Italy, Honduras, Costa Rica and China. Lisa bought her first kayak last summer and plans to paddle every lake she can find this summer.

Hannah Crummé was born in Portland and grew up in the forests surrounding Corvallis. She attended Pomona College for her undergraduate degree in literature in 2008, and King's College London for her MA and PhD in early modern literary history. After curating The National Archives' exhibit exploring Shakespeare's life in 2016 at Somerset House, London, she repatriated and became Head of Special Collections and Archives at Lewis & Clark College.

Her doctoral research examined the various relationships with Spain posited by the authors, scholars, and patrons who surrounded Sir Philip Sidney. Her next book-length project will be an edition of The Life of Jane Dormer (1538-1612), a manuscript biography by Henry Clifford, accompanied by her edited correspondence and papers, which will appear with the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies housed at the University of Toronto Press.

Discovering the writings and life of Eva Emery Dye piqued Nancy’s interest in Lewis and Clark, especially the role of Sacajawea and the not-so-positive aspect of their relationship plus their relationships with others who accompanied them, led them, fought them. She just began to explore Dye’s books and dive deeper into Lewis and Clark history. She’s looking forward to serving on the board as a means of furthering her education. With any luck, her written and verbal communication skills may be of use to the board and she has a strong interest in marketing and membership.

History and storytelling are passions of Nancy’s. She’s written three books since 2018; two about local history and one an anthology of humorous life experiences. She also writes a column under her own byline for Pamplin Media titled History Connections. The column is seven years old and still going strong. She also writes for Jottings from 5th and G, a writing group based at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center.

A native Oregonian, Nancy grew up in Lake Oswego; attended the University of Oregon where she earned her Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in education with teaching credentials. She taught one year only to discover that it wasn’t her cup of tea and self-employment was more to her liking. She founded and operated an event planning business for 25 years. Even though Nancy sold the business and morphed into a published author, she finds those event planning skills still come in handy. She hopes to be able to put them to use as a board member.

Nancy is looking forward to serving on the board.

Thelma Haggenmiller is the quintessential tour guide, enthusiastic and informed about a broad range of local and historical topics. Her business card reads “A picture’s worth a thousand words, but an experience is worth a thousand pictures!”. She started and co-leads our chapter’s “Explore More” program, expanding the range of our events beyond the narrow trail and era of Lewis & Clark’s expedition. More than 25 years ago she retired from the position of technical training instructor for the telephone company to start her own business, Slow Poke Tours, which provides step-on guide services for tour groups coming to NW Oregon and SW Washington.

Thelma also is a founder of the CIA—Citizens Involved and Aware—a civic forum held since 1995 in the unincorporated area of Oak Grove, Oregon, and is most recently known for her successful advocacy for the 6-mile bicycle and pedestrian “Trolley Trail” there. She lives in Oak Grove and can be identified by her unusual and often one-of-a-kind earrings.

LTC (Ret) Alisha Hamel has a master’s degree in history, is a retired Army historian, current author and loves to teach history to anyone. She worked with the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial from 2003-2007 as the Oregon National Guard Lewis and Clark Special Projects Officer.

In that role she created a Lewis and Clark presentation using the Army Corps of Engineers Discovery Box that was taken out to thousands of schools, libraries, and organizations with a large percentage of repeat Lewis and Clark school presentations. She trained a number of other Soldiers to also give the presentations managing up to 5 Soldiers in this role.

Alisha also was an integral part of the Oregon/Washington Lewis and Clark Signature event and oversaw the opening ceremony bringing together tribes, military, LCTHF members, reenactors, Miss America and the public to commemorate the anniversary of the arrival of the Corps of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean “Ocian in View! O! The Joy!”. She is very proud that she was recognized by the Circle of Tribal Advisors for working so well with the tribes.

She arranged for Oregon National Guard assistance in the rebuilding of Fort Clatsop after it burned to the ground in October 2005. Her two young boys also helped to strip the logs that were used in the rebuilding. She has traveled almost the entire Lewis and Clark Trail and was able to finally canoe down the Missouri River through the White Cliffs.

Mark Johnson's parents instilled in him a love of history and culture, which he is passing on to his children. During the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, Mark developed a program of period music with his son Tanner which they performed many times across the Pacific Northwest. They also appeared in the film "Confluence of Time and Courage" which is seen at several interpretive centers along the trail.

An active member of the Oregon Chapter since 2001, Mark also belongs to the Pacific Northwest Living Historians (PNLH) and The Discovery Expedition of Saint Charles (DESC). In 2005 and 2006, Mark adopted the persona of private Richard Windor and participated with DESC, paddling in a dugout and in a Chinook canoe on the Columbia River. Since the Bicentennial, as a member of PNLH, Mark has become private George Gibson during Fort Clatsop's "Wintering Over" and Seaside's "Saltmakers Return" events.

In real life, Mark has enjoyed a long career as a computer engineering professional. He and and his wife, Barbara, live in Portland, Oregon, where they have worked and raised their family since 1981.

Ted lives in Portland, in the house he grew up in, within sight of William Clark’s ascent of the Willamette River and overlooking the grounds of the 1905 Lewis & Clark Exposition. He is the retired CFO of a small technology firm. As budget director of the Oregon Historical Society and later the founding executive director of Lewis & Clark Bicentennial in Oregon 1997-2002, he worked with partners across the state and along the national trail to establish the foundation for Oregon’s commemorative activities. He attended President Clinton’s promotion ceremony for William Clark at the White House, and has visited every state along the L&C Trail. At home, he led the effort to designate NW York St. as honoring Clark’s slave, the first black explorer to reach Portland.

He froze at Monticello at the first bicentennial “signature event” in January 2003, got sopping wet at Fort Stevens at the Oregon/Washington event in November 2005, and welcomed the Corps back to St. Louis at the final event in September 2006. He organized and led the chapter’s 4-year effort to inventory all L&C-related “assets” in Oregon, and created and updated the tourist-guide/map “Lewis & Clark on the Columbia River” in 2001 and 2013. The former editor of a scholarly journal of flag studies, he has written a guide to flag design, sponsored Internet surveys on state and city flags, and published many articles (including one in WPO on the tribal flags used in Oregon’s Lewis & Clark bicentennial events). He consulted to the 2009 campaign to update the Oregon state flag. Since 2007 he has edited our Chapter newsletter.

Glen Kirkpatrick's interest in Lewis and Clark began in 1994 as he researched Clark's Point of View on Tillamook Head. He has served on the board of the Oregon chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance for the past 10 years and is currently serving as the Chapter Vice President. During the Bicentennial he led the effort to have the Oregon Geographic Names Board designate Clark's Mountain in Clatsop County. He has written articles for We Proceeded On, and has researched Clark's ascent of the Willamette River and the Corps' exploration of the Sandy River. He is particularly interested in Clark's maps and the Expedition's travels in the Columbia River Gorge.

Trained as a geologist, and now retired from the Rail Division, Glen worked throughout North America exploring for minerals. Returning to his home state of Oregon, he obtained an MBA from the University of Portland and now retired from the Rail Division of the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Glen is an avid outdoor enthusiast, enjoying wilderness travel by foot, kayak, and on horseback. He has kayaked the trail from Bonneville Dam to Fort Clatsop. He lives with his wife, Paula Beck, in Molalla on a 10 acre farm with four horses, one dog & cat and too many chickens to count.

Larry McClure caught the Lewis and Clark bug in 1997 after viewing the Ken Burns documentary and reading Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage. As an educator by profession, he was interested in how skills and attitudes demonstrated by the Corps of Discovery fit exactly with the K-12 school curriculum. Larry is retired from his career as an education researcher for the NorthWest Regional Education Laboratories. After joining both the National Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance and the Oregon Chapter, he became involved in writing curriculum and conducting teacher workshops for the LCTA.

After serving as coordinator of the Portland meeting of the Foundation in 2005, he accepted nomination to the Board of Directors of the Foundation where he continues to serve as Secretary. He was elected president of the Oregon Chapter in 2005 and co-president with Mark Johnson in 2009.

Larry's enthusiasm for "our favorite explorers" is contagious. Together with his wife, Ellie, he has traveled almost all of the Trail.

Lyn Trainer has been fascinated with history since childhood, most especially about Thomas Jefferson. She is an avid reader of biographies and historical novels. Her favorite book is a 1933 copy of Thomas Jefferson by Lisitsky which belonged to her father. Lyn has always enjoyed history and has many activities which give her a fun & social way to pursue it.

In the mid '90's Lyn took an afternoon off work to attend & volunteer at a reception at the Oregon Historical Society for the upcoming Lewis & Clark Bicentennial, which has since brought her to serving on the Board of Oregon Chapter of LCTA. At the present she serves as a board member who is very committed to finding activities for all to enjoy & learn more of our connection with Lewis & Clark.

Lyn has worked in the non-profit sector for 2 decades and is currently manager of Seguro Group, an international professional association of individuals responsible for computer security & data privacy. Her leisure time is spent on expeditions of travel, reading and attending historical lectures.