LEADERSHIP
Officers and Board Members
Beth Parisi – CoDirector
Beth brings over 20 years of experience working with site steward organizations in the four corner states. Beth first started volunteering with the Santa Fe National Forest Site Stewards in 1998. She was on the Site Steward Foundation, Inc. board of directors for 10 years. Beth began volunteering in South Park with Dr. Susan Bender in 2011. A retired accountant, Beth enjoys gardening, swimming and is a ski instructor at Monarch Mountain in the winter.
Barb Saenger – CoDirector & Treasurer
Barb uses her experience submitting fire mitigation grants for her HOA to develop funding opportunities for SPSS. Barb retired from a career in metal manufacturing sales and joined SPSS in 2017. Barb enjoys the outdoors hiking, mushrooming, gardening, skiing and golfing.
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Lori Kennedy – Secretary
Lori is a Colorado native who loves to spend time in the mountains of Park and Summit counties. More than 40 years ago she befriended an old cowboy from Guffey and recorded his oral history. One of his stories was about the VVN Ranch and Lori was excited to learn that the Ranch is a historical site we monitor. Lori donated the tapes and photos to the Park County Historical Archives contributing to the preservation of South Park history. An avid hiker, Lori has climbed all of the 14ers. She recently retired from the Breckenridge Ski Resort Guest Services program where she managed 200 volunteers. Thankfully, that is where she met Linda Carr who talked to her about the South Park Site Stewards and she has enjoyed every minute of her time with this wonderful organization!
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Kathy Reeves – Board Member
Kathy became a volunteer with SPArP when Ed Friedman, Tom Lincoln and Susan Bender started the project in 2001. Kathy learned survey, recording and excavation techniques in the field, along with lab work, cataloging and curation of the artifacts the Project collected over 14 years. She later helped SPNHA realize their goal of moving the artifact collection to a repository in the new County building. Kathy came to South Park in 1972 and worked in Fairplay at several local businesses and the County Extension Office. She retired from South Park Middle School in 2016 after 20 years. Kathy enjoys hiking and gardening and has learned to grow a variety of vegetables and flowers at 10,000 feet altitude in raised beds and two small greenhouses.
Joana Iniguez– Board Member
Joana found her way to the High Mountains of Colorado 17 years ago by way of Brazil, where she was born into a Spanish family, and from Spain where she supervised internship students for Syracuse University in Madrid. She joined SPSS in 2011 and quickly became a dedicated volunteer under Professor Susan Bender’s guidance. She subsequently became a site steward when the program was established in 2014. Joana shares time away from Park County with family and friends in Europe and is always eager to return to the high country and the Archeology that she has learned to respect in her many years of voluntary work. Her background as an International Radio Correspondent, has served her well in delving into the mysteries and histories of the people who have passed through and lived in this wonderful high open plateau called South Park.
ADVISORS
Dr. Susan Bender
Dr. Susan Bender is Professor Emerita of anthropology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY and served as Research Director for the South Park Archaeology Project for 15 years. Her main research interests have focused on the archaeology of Indigenous peoples who inhabited the mountainous West, as well as the communication of archaeological knowledge to the general public. She has published work in both these areas and in 2012 received a Park County Historic Preservation Award.
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Tom Lincoln
Tom has been working in South Park since 2000 as a co-founder of the South Park Archaeology Project. Tom worked for the Department of the Interior for many years and retired as Assistant Regional Director, Cultural Resources for the National Park Service Intermountain Region. A graduate of Grand Valley State University and the University of Montana, his research interests include high altitude sites, the American SW, and Great Plains archaeology. Tom served on the Phoenix Historic Preservation Commission and some of his most rewarding memories during 47 years as a professional archaeologist have been Native American tribal consultations. Tom is a published poet and owns PHA Research an archaeological consulting firm.
