"Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much." -Helen Keller
RRRB VOLUNTEERS
George Beard is a Denver native, born there in 1951. George and his family moved west when he was young and settled in Arvada, a suburb west of Denver. At 18, George married, at 19 become an MP and was sent to Vietnam in 1972. After three years in the Army, George became a police officer in a small northern community and ended up as the Chief of Police at age 24. Three years later he went back to college, then worked in a variety of positions in the Denver area. Eventually George worked with blind seniors and Medicaid Single Entry Points in Denver and Jefferson Counties. After retiring, George and his wife moved to Arizona and in 2008 bought a home in Litchfield Park. George enjoys golf, volunteering and helping out with residents locally. George serves on the RRRB Board of Directors.
Guy Bethell was employed by American Express when he moved to Arizona from New York in 1989. After retiring 10 years ago, he joined RRRB as a reader. In addition to his work on the Talking News, Guy records audio books. He also sings with the Orpheus Male Chorus of Phoenix, which was founded in 1929 and is the longest continuously performing arts group in the State of Arizona. He and his wife have two adult children, both of whom live in Europe.
Tina Britton is a Florida native who lived there until moving to Arizona with her husband Keith six years ago. A graduate of Rollins College, she retired last year from an executive position with a residential appraisal management company and began volunteering as a director at RRRB soon after. She is an avid traveler, enjoys reading, games of all kinds, and plays mahjong regularly.
Connie Brodland is a volunteer reader with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind. Her background is administrative/secretarial with the public school system and corporate setting. Upon retirement she had a day trip bus traveling business for 7 years. It ended with the pandemic. She is married to Ray Brodland, a retired cabinet maker/maintenance man. Connie is the mother of three adult children, one deceased, grandmother and great grandmother. Connie has been with RRRB since 2016. She was recruited by Doug Wright, Board President, to become a member of the Board of Directors. She still serves on the board and continues to be a reader.
Leo Campero manages the social media accounts for Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind. Leo and his family have been in Arizona since 2017. Leo is currently on active duty with the U.S. Air Force stationed at Luke AFB in Glendale. Prior to joining the Air Force he served the State of Minnesota as the Asst. Executive Director for the MN Board of Psychology, the state's regulatory agency that governs the practice of psychology. Leo enjoys photography, working out, learning new things and having new experiences. He loves all things technology as well as reading non-fiction. When reading fiction, his favorite genre is science-fiction. Leo has been with RRRB since 2020. He was looking for an opportunity to serve the community remotely during COVID and came across the opportunity on VolunteerMatch.
Gary Cohen hosts the Valley Volunteers Today program on KRUV Radio Sun. Born and raised in New York City, Gary has a BA in Journalism to the world of radio and decades of experience as producer, editor, writer and correspondent at a variety of radio stations in New York City, Washington DC, Los Angeles and West Palm Beach, Florida where he gave live reports on hurricanes and covered presidential visits. Gary and his wife Enid moved to Sun City West in 2018 and since that time has been involved on the air at KSCW Radio. Gary and Enid are both avid readers and love live theatre – a love that has led them to travel to England and France as well as several cross country car trips. Gary brings his 40 years of radio experience to RRRB along with his influence as part of the Sun City West Broadcast Club and the Sun City West Foundation.
Howard Cohen is a volunteer reader at the Recorded Recreational Reading for the blind, having begun in early 2021. Originally from Chicago, Howard is a self-described kosher ham – an 18-year old folk singer who lost track of the past 60 years. He would love a career doing voiceovers, commercials, narration; and his volunteer work at the studio provides him with an opportunity to do what he loves. Howard has been married for the past 54 years and has two beautiful, smart daughters. When not at work as a customer service representative for the State Department, answering questions about passport status, he goes to open mics where he sings and plays guitar. He’d love to have voice acting lessons!!
Claudette Cohn was born in Chicago, and says her mother told her that at birth she looked like a tomato. She grew up in Champaign, Illinois from age four. She’s worked as a secretary, liked it, and studied graphic design at the University of Illinois. She’s living in Sun City – and likes the quiet in the desert. Claudette loves movies – has seen thousands – one of her favorites is the Shawshank Redemption. She is volunteering as a narrator – and has a distinctive style.
Rose Anne Colavito and David Ganje, KRUV Radio Sun interviewers, are relative newcomers to radio broadcasting, both having taken a leap into the deep end when interviewing two very accomplished and thoughtful local teenage girls. The result: they came away laughing, giggling and enlightened. In addition, Rose Anne records book reviews for the Arizona Talking Books Library. Both Rose Anne and Dave are thankful to be able to volunteer for Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind and say “It's a Hoot!!”
Kathleen Depukat came to Sun City 16 years ago with her husband Ed to provide care for her parents until they passed in 2017. Before that Kathy and Ed were full-time RVers for seven years after retiring from working in the Northern Virginia area. Ed was a consultant while Kathy was a manager in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in D.C. She also worked as a Project Manager at the Bureau of Land Management in both Nevada and Phoenix, working on their solar and other large-scale projects. Ed and Kathy have two children and five grandchildren all living in the Northern Virginia area.
Debra Fain. After moving from Montana to Sun City, where she lives with her parents, Debra drove past the studio regularly and was curious about what was done there. One day about five years ago, she stopped to find out and has been a volunteer reader since that time. Debra has worked in nursing for 40 years. She loves to travel and spent 12 years of her career as a traveling nurse in Alaska. She has two sisters, one who lives in the Phoenix area and the other in Texas.
Marie Farmer is a relatively new volunteer reader with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind, although it's been on her Wanna-Do list for a long time. Her professional background includes teaching English as a Second Language in Tokyo, California, and the Washington, D.C. area, followed by a stint as a travel agent/owner, and then caregiver to her late husband. Once retired, she discovered a plethora of clubs and activities in a del Webb community, which allowed her to explore new hobbies, perfect some others, and even let her Evil Twin out on the stage a time or two. Now re-married, she & her husband had begun exploring the world on an accelerated basis which they are eager to continue, but she is thrilled that she can continue her reading/recording sessions in between her trips.
Linda Furman has been a volunteer reader with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind since 2019. Her background is in elementary education, with most of her years spent as a Title-1 teacher, working with struggling reading and math students. A Phoenix native, she lived in some faraway, interesting places before returning to the valley in 2011. Her favorites were Juneau, AK, Williamsburg, VA and Placerville, CA. Linda has been putting her theater background to use, reading single-read books at the studio, and is working on starting a program at RRRB to record books for children and teens who struggle to read. She also does the “Let’s Eat!” portion of the West Valley Talking News. Linda is married to Bill Furman, a retired construction and engineering contractor. She is the mom to two adult children and five adult stepchildren.
Carolyn Gelazela has been a volunteer reader for Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind for about 15 years, first recording textbooks for school usage and later doing private reader books in addition to the news. Married for 56 years, she and her hubby, Gerry, a retired metallurgist, have 4 children and 7 grandchildren. Previous to being a Mom, she was a claims manager for an insurance agency. She was twice a candidate of public office (county council) in Maryland, her home state. She returned to employment as a cleaning lady and later bought and operated a shoeshine chair in a Marriott Hotel for 13 years. She enjoys fitness exercising and reading. Her real love has been teaching teens the Catholic Faith for over 30 years, at local parishes- currently at Santa Teresita in El Mirage.
Jackie Huget is involved with the clerical tasks at Recorded Recreational Readling for the Blind, primarily cataloging the cassettes as they are returned, erasing them and preparing them to mail out again the following week. She’s been with RRRB since 2018, having heard about the opportunity when it was presented at her church. Jackie was married for 54 years when her husband passed away in 2016. They had two children, two grandchildren and one great grandchild, with another on the way. Before volunteering at RRRB, Jackie taught music in public schools for nearly 30 years. She loves to read, watch TV series and work jigsaw puzzles.
Orrin Johnson has volunteered as a director with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind and for the Arizona Talking Books Library since around 2010 or thereabouts. His technical experience with audio and computers was invaluable when making the transition from tape to digital recording. Orrin’s primary focus when directing is recording books for the National Library Service.
Richard Kerr received his degree in Mass Communications from Arizona State University. He has been involved in radio since 1970. For 16 years Richard volunteered as a reader of the USA Today for Sun Sounds of Arizona. In 2016 he became a volunteer with Recreational Reading for the Blind (KRUV) as an announcer/reader. Recently, Richard began hosting a weekend show “Relaxing Eclectic Waves.” Early in Richard’s life in radio he learned one’s musical taste must be varied: Acoustic Jazz, Big Band, Classical, Rock and Roll to Standards. Richard and his wife have been married for 48 years and have two adult children and three grandchildren. They are retired and living in Payson, Arizona. Thanks to John Schumacher Richard’s program, Relaxing Eclectic Waves, is also heard on a not-for-profit station in Payson.
Rick Ketcherside recently joined our group of volunteers as a Director. He is a rare phenomenon in that he is an Arizona native, born in the city of Mesa. Rick has great qualifications for his job as a Director, since he spent 19 years working in Technical Support. He also tried his hand at a smokehouse catering business, but Covid became a reality and caused the new business to falter. Rick is single and has many interests. He shared his love for martial arts as the manager of a Scottsdale school until recently. He then began looking for a place to volunteer and found RRRB on Volunteer Match. He “loves it here” and plans to use his technical capabilities to help RRRB in whatever ways he can.
Mel Livatino began volunteering as a reader for RRRB in April, 2021. He is from Evanston, IL and taught English in the City Colleges of Chicago for 36 years. Before that he edited a magazine for Sears Roebuck employees for three years and before that he worked in a printing plant for eight years. He has three sons, one stepdaughter & two stepsons, ten grandchildren, and six step-grandchildren. In 2015 his wife died after 11 years of Alzheimer’s. In 2017 he bought a home in Sun City. He has published many essays in the Sewanee Review, Notre Dame Magazine, Under the Sun, Portland Magazine, and other venues — and that’s the thing he most loves, writing. He swims a mile every day and golfs whenever he has a partner.
Don Myers is a reader with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind. Don served in the Air Force during the Korean War. He and his wife Alma have three children and more than 30 grandchildren. Don and Alma both taught elementary school until retiring in 1972. Don and Alma, now deceased, volunteered as full time Rangers for the National Park Service, serving 18 years at Dinosaur National Monument. Since 2004, Don has been a volunteer with the Braille Talking Book Library. He is currently serving on the Board of Directors for RRRB.
Denise Myrick is from New York, having moved to Arizona when her husband transferred for work and her two now-grown sons were very young. A former preschool director and current children’s church worker, Denise finds time for her family and helping her friends. She loves to garden, work on-line jigsaw puzzles, swim, walk and shop and is active at her church. Denise lives in Peoria with her husband Rick and enjoys gourmet cooking as prepared by her mother, Diane. Denise volunteers at RRRB as bookkeeper.
Herb Norton records the Science News at home for RRRB. He has been with RRRB for about 3 years, but before that he recorded textbooks for Recording for the Blind since the mid 70s. While he has a PhD in physics, for most of his career, he was a software developer for Bell Labs. He also spent 10 years as a part time dance teacher. Herb is now a Master Tax Advisor for H&R Block. He is married to Sue who is a retired teacher and corporate secretary. They enjoy hiking, traveling, and ballroom dancing and are active in their church. Herb has two adult daughters and two grandchildren.
Fred Rothert is a reader with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind, primarily reading the sports report and occasionally other things. Fred, who is from Indiana, was a professional musician until age 40 when he began a career teaching high school English and history. At present, Fred is retired. Fred and Bonnie have been married for 41 years and have a son and two daughters. In addition to his family, Fred loves music, classic films, sports, cooking, reading and hiking. Fred has been involved with West Valley Talking News since sometime in 2018, introduced through his friendship with Buck Miner who went to the studio for an interview.
Sarah Shew is a volunteer director with Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind. Her background is secretarial and administrative primarily with law firms and the Arizona court system. For the past 15 years she has been practicing real estate, helping people buy and sell. She is married to Steve Shew, a retired college professor of mathematics, and is the mother of an adult daughter, Jenny Kew. Her interests include reading and knitting. She has been with RRRB since 2018, having been “recruited” by her friend Paige Wilbur. She also serves on RRRB’s Board of Directors.
Nancy Snediker was born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. She has five children, ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren spread across the country in Florida, Maryland, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas and Arizona. Nancy worked for United Airlines for 34 years – as legal secretary, selling charter flights and IT including quality assurance, programming and systems analysis, and project management. Nancy retired in 2000 and moved to Sun Lakes, coming to Sun City in September 2021. Nancy is a Lions Club member, a member of the Women’s Club and currently is transferring Old Time Radio classic cassettes to MP3 format for use on KRUV Radio Sun. Nancy’s hobbies include travel, jigsaw puzzles and reading.
Joyce Voss, after reading about RRRB in the Sun City Independent, came to see the studio to find out how she might help. Joyce Voss is now a new reader for the West Valley Talking News. She and her husband Chuck have been AZ residents since the fall of 2020. After spending a decade visiting for 6 weeks in the winter, the Pandemic helped them decide to move out west permanently. Professionally Joyce was a teacher and then a librarian in Illinois. Public speaking and leading discussion groups were routine parts of her career. Her current interests include volunteering for the Friends of the Sun City Libraries, spending time at the West Valley Genealogy Center, and volunteering at St Elizabeth Seton Parish. Joyce’s three adult children and three grandsons all live east of the Mississippi River, but she manages to see them several times a year.
Paige Wilbur, who retired from the insurance industry after more than 20 years when her first grandchild born, has been a volunteer reader at Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind for many years. She also serves on the Board of Directors. Paige is married to James, a military retiree. They are the parents of daughter Brandy Pitcher, and grandparents of Alex and Olivia. Paige’s interests include reading, music, traveling and cooking.
Dan Zemke started as a volunteer reader in February, 2021 at the invitation of Sarah Shew. He was born and raised in Kansas and moved to Arizona in 1970. He earned a BS in Accounting from ASU and served the State of Arizona as a bureaucrat, retiring after almost 38 years in 2009. He has been a widower since 2018 and has five grown children and nine grandchildren. His interests include reading, music, and puzzles of any kind. Dan is serving as Treasurer on the RRRB Board of Directors.
Nicole Caliguiri is the office administrator at RRRB, and as part of her responsibility, she selects most of the articles that are read by the volunteers for the Valley Talking News. She recently moved to Arizona from New York City, where she worked for the last 15 years as a Reference Liberian and Information Literacy Instructor for St. Joseph's College. She is married to Michael Caliguiri, a personal injury attorney, and is the proud step-mother of Allison Brewster and David Caliguiri and grandmother of Katie. Her interests include golfing with her husband and pilates. After settling into her new home, she wanted to continue working as a librarian and learned of the RRB through the website Volunteermatch. She has been working with with RRRB since early 2021.
John Schumacher is program director and manager of Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind. His professional history is divided into thirds. His first third, in Indiana, was as an officer in his family's general construction business - dong institutional, commercial and industrial construction, primarily in Northern and Northwest Indiana. The family business, started by John's grandfather, began in 1910 and continued until 1980. His second third, still in near Indiana, center around building and operating a themed amusement park near Indianapolis. John designed, laid out and supervised construction and served as director of business affairs and Human Resources. Presently in the current third of his professional life, John is up to his eyebrows with RRRB. His volunteer work began in 2001 in the analog/tape recorded era. Between 2005 and 2010, John oversaw conversion of analog to digital, adding an online radio station (KRUV) in 2016. John serves on RRRB's Board of Directors in addition to production supervisor of the audio weekly news magazine format (Valley Talking News), program director for Radio KRUV as well as audio recording for books and magazines.
Linda Ard was born and grew up in southern Connecticut and has lived in many different states due to being transferred for work. She worked for a labor union representing public workers and worked in many states. Linda came to Arizona in late 2018, to spend three months getting out of the cold in Michigan, where she was living, and four years later, she is still here! Linda’s brother lives in Tempe right now, retired and preparing to move to France. Linda is a life-long reader, her favorite pastime.
Kathryn Chandler is a Retired Nonprofit Executive Director with a passion to share the skills and knowledge acquired along the way with RRRB. Her mother is blind and when Kathy learned of the work of RRRB and of the Talking Library, she facilitated getting her set up with the programs. She really enjoys listening to her tapes. Kathy loves to read and is glad there is such a program to help those who cannot. Kathy’s hobbies are reading, spending time with her five grandchildren (the youngest is 6 months), watching football, (she is a Cheesehead from Wisconsin – a staunch Packer fan.), doing DIY projects around the house and playing in her garden with her dog and turtles.
Evelyn Dragiff is originally from NYC and moved to Arizona in 1983 with her husband, who retired from being an Orthodontist. She has a son, a daughter and 8 grandchildren. Evelyn is a former remedial reading elementary school teacher, having received her Masters Degree in Educational Psychology and Remedial Reading from Columbia University. In her spare time, Evelyn enjoys watercolor painting, needlepoint and jewelry making.
Charlie Edmondson was raised in Memphis, where he met his wife Pamela in High School. Charlie worked at the phone company for a while, and went back to school and got a Masters in electrical engineering at UCSB. He designed a classroom audio/video systems, and toll road electronics, did tech support for a major software company, and then formed his own company, Edmondson Engineering Inc where they installed audio and video systems for board rooms and council chambers. Charlie also developed and built the Rainbow Color Reader for many years until retiring in 2023.
Pamela Edmondson was born in Memphis, TN, married Charles E. Edmondson and in 1979 moved to the Palm Springs area in CA. Pamela has a B.A. in Sociology, a minor in Psychology, and a Certificate in Community Mental Health from Cal State University of San Bernardino. She volunteered for recordings for the blind and Dysliexic in Santa Anna, making text book duplicates, and then volunteered as the treasurer of the Orange County chapter of the CA Council of the Blind. She has a certificate in Accounting and tutored many accounting students with her talking computer. In 2008, Pamela hopes to enjoy swimming in the indoor pools, dancing a little ballet, growing a few plants, and volunteering for Recorded Recreational Reading for the Blind.
Cathy Gallo was born in Chicago and grew up in Arizona. Cathy worked at Motorola for 18 years as an Electronics Technician. She also worked as a Pharmacy Technician at Walgreens. Cathy has a heart for volunteering. She has volunteered her time at Arizona Broadway Theatre, Compassion in Action, churches, mission trips and for friends. Cathy enjoys travel, playing games and her two little dogs. She is currently serving at RRRB as a director of WVTN.
Christopher Alwag born in Burbank, California and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona Christopher has a Mexican and Filipino background. He enjoys hiking, exercise, walks on the beach, and all outdoor activities. In his time away from work, he also enjoys engaging in and crafting his voice talent. He provides a young male voice for your narrations, voice-overs, and characters.
Gary Niles Greer retired as Graphic Designer Senior in December 1996, later moved to Sun City where he obtained a ministry license and served as an Associate Pastor for six years. Currently Gary volunteers as a docent at the Sun City Museum (SCHASM) as well as a member of the Museum Digitizing Team which is compiling a digital reference library that will be soon be available online for the public to search. Gary uses the on-air name of Gary Niles when reading for the West Valley Talking News.
George Harbison is a new voice talent entering the voice-over industry. Proficient in reading many different genres, his low-pitch portrays a masculine, serious, and comforting voice. His voices a perfect fit for compelling narrations, strong adult male characters, comedic male roles, and other gentlemanly roles. Flexible and attentive, George strives to bring the vision of each author to fruition.
Tom Hermann is a native of Wisconsin and grew up in the Milwaukee area. He graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, and spent most of his adult life in the Madison area. He moved to the Valley of the Sun in 2015 to be closer to his aging parents and to escape the dreaded Polar Cortex. Having fun and getting paid for it included being an on-air personality, a recording engineer, and a voice-over guy. Tom began volunteering as a reading at RRRB in June 2023. In his spare time. Tom enjoys playing with his dog and cat, reading, watching movies, hiking, biking, and thinking about all the classic cars he sold way too cheap all those years ago.
Morrie Hesch was born in Buffalo, New York. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, he joined his father and brother in the auto parts business. Morrie served as Scoutmaster of the same Troop in which he had been a Scout, and he advanced to District Commissioner. As a member of the Buffalo Jaycees, he became the radio voice of that organization. For fifteen years he was a reader of newspapers, magazines and books on the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Service, broadcasting to blind and print-handicapped individuals in Western New York and Southern Ontario. After moving to the Phoenix area, Morrie read for Sun Sounds of Arizona and served as their ambassador. He earned the 2014 Golden Microphone as Volunteer of the Year. Morrie's volunteer service includes 20 years as a Boy Scout leader, more than 25 years as a member of Optimist International, plus on-going involvement in his synagogue.
Bonnie Howe was raised in Maricopa County between Tempe and Mesa, then annexed to Tempe while pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Public Safety Administraon and an Associate of Applied Science in Fire Science, cerfied Paramedic, and EMT. Bonnie served in the fire service for 27 plus years; her last nine years was on a municipal fire department's execuve team. While living in Buckeye for nearly 40 years, she has served as a volunteer fire fighter, EMT and trained to be the first paramedic in the area providing advanced life support. Bonnie enjoys walking, Tai Chi, swimming, bird- watching, travel & and is an avid reader of non-ficon. Bonnie and Dave share 7 children, 25 grandchildren & 11 great grandkids (so far). Bonnie is currently a Reader for RRRB.
Julie Huber grew up in Wisconsin, has lived in several states throughout her career and has been a full-time Arizona resident for 8 years. From 2017 to 2022 she and her husband owned and operated Home Instead Senior Care of Surprise. They now live in Glendale. Julie is a relatively new volunteer with RRRB, and it is something she always wanted to do as her father used a similar service back in Wisconsin. She loves hiking, biking and travel, and her favorite place to be is exploring the country with her husband Brian and their rescue dog Spots.
Ed Kaiser was born and raised in Northern Illinois and attended Rock Valley College. His working career was focused on managing the design, sales, and project management of specialty machine tools for the aerospace, automotive, and construction industries. Ed and his wife Nancy have owned their home in Sun City since 2012 and became permanent residents in August 2020. The Kaisers enjoy golf, lawn bowling, pickleball, and boating.
As a long time Arizonan and Sun City resident, A.J. Kovac enjoys sharing the history and culture of Sun City with newcomers and locals alike. He has served on the Board of Sun Cities Historical Society and also as a docent at the Sun City Museum and is active with their Speaker’s Bureau. A.J. formerly volunteered with Hospice and served as a trustee with a Sun City church. A.J. is also a practicing realtor with The Nixon Group in Sun City.
Shelley Price is a native Phoenician who enjoys cycling, writing, reading, history, needlework, and almost all genres of music, especially Blues. Shelly works as an application developer, and has also worked in radio. When not working or enjoying hobbies, she likes to travel, cook, and enjoys long conversations over a nice bottle of wine or beer with friends. Shelly is looking forward to helping RRRB provide their listeners with informative, quality audio recordings.
With over 25 years of ministry experience in various pastoral roles across diverse expressions of the body of Christ, Chris Reuwer combines a passion for building healthy church communities with the heart of a disciple-maker who enthusiastically invests in relationships to foster personal spiritual growth. Chris and his wife Amy recently moved from Maryland. They are the proud parents of four adult children and have 12 (soon to be 13) beautiful grandkids. Outside of church life, Chris can be found hiking, reading history and biography, acting, and rooting on his hometown Baltimore sports teams.
Jan Sidla says she finally thawed out after moving here from Minnesota/Wisconsin almost eight years ago. Jan’s husband plays golf, and Jan keeps busy with her Mary Kay business and volunteer activities. Jan says that her back patio is her happy place. She loves photographing the Arizona sunsets and enjoys “Jan’s Menagerie” of quail, hummingbirds, bunnies, and backyard critters. She considers each day a gift from God for which she is thankful/grateful/blessed.
Mike Spiger is, like so many, a transplant to Arizona and has lived here since 2017. Mike is a retired business executive who during college worked on the college radio station and then briefly in the industry. He began volunteering at RRRB in late 2023 and says he loves it. Mike has a small tiling business that he says keeps him in golf money.
Gayle Tichauer retired in January 2023 and knew she wanted to do something to help others. Becoming a volunteer for RRRB is just the right fit! Gayle has an undergraduate degree in Special Ed and a graduate degree in Guidance and Counseling with an emphasis in Career Counseling. Since 1986 she worked as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor in various venues. Gayle was born and raised in Omaha, NE where she remained until age 52. She moved to Peoria for her husband’s health and has lived here since 2002. They have a son and a daughter, of whom each have a son and a daughter! Their son’s family lives in Ashland, OR and their daughter’s family in Austin, TX. Lots of time is spent traveling back and forth between OR and TX for holidays and the grandkids’ birthdays.
Volunteer reader Mike Watt has spent most of his work life in television production and serving as Executive Producer for corporate events in major cities all over the world. He has hosted public television on-air fund-raising for 35 years in Connecticut and Arizona and is eager to lend his voice to this worthwhile program. He is the father of twins and grandfather to eight children (which counts as his other major hobby).
Nancy Hanson Zbyszinski is a native of Arizona. She received her early childhood teaching degree from ASU and taught kindergarten in Peoria District for 30 years. Nancy’s daughter lives in Cary, North Carolina and her son and his wife live here in Peoria. Nancy and her husband are retired and have a spoiled dachshund named Disney. Nancy is a volunteer reader for the West Valley Talking News.
