OFFICERS FOR 2008-09

Meet the Redlands Conservancy’s Board of Directors – They serve the whole community.

President: W. Robert Clark – Redlands resident since 1989, Bob Clark has been at the helm of the Redlands Conservancy since its inception in 1994. He owns and manages Trimflex, a manufacturing plant which makes plastic extrusion items for upholstery and luggage, among other things. Before settling in Redlands, Clark and his wife Norma resided in Pasadena, California, where they participated actively in preservation activities. Clark has also served as president of both the Redlands Chamber of Commerce and the Redlands Symphony Association.

Vice President: John Terry – “Redlands reminds me of the years I spent growing up in Orange and Santa Ana in the pre-Disneyland and pre-Irvine period,” says Vice President John Terry. He was drawn to Redlands because of the citrus groves and the small college town atmosphere. A broker for Caldwell & Moreland Insurance Services for 11 years, Terry and his wife Karen have resided in Redlands since 1988. He has served as the Vice President for 3 years, and as a member of Redlands Allies since that group began.

Secretary: Mark Gorden - Dr. Mark Gorden has been in private dental practice in Redlands since the late 1970s, and he was a founding member of the Redlands Conservancy in 1994. He practices what he preaches, as he has established his dental practice in an adaptively reused cottage at the corner of Citrus and Church. Along with several other Redlands Conservancy board of directors members, he purchased and adaptively reused the Mitten Building, a former citrus packing house.

Treasurer: Rolland Moore - Col. Rolland Moore, USAF retired, helped found the Redlands Conservancy in 1994. He has served as president of Family Service Association of Redlands and is an active member of the San Bernardino County Museum. Rollie Moore and his wife Sally live in a 1930s Mediterranean style house restored and renovated in the 1990s.

STAFF

Sherli Leonard, executive director: Sherli Leonard has served as the executive director for the Redlands Conservancy since 2006. A Redlands resident since 1985, Leonard taught for two and a half decades in the public schools, and has been a freelance writer since 1990. She has served on numerous boards, and has been president of the Redlands Art Association Board of Trustees, president of the Redlands Art Association Executive Board, and Chair of the City of Redlands Cultural Arts Commission. She serves on the Nonprofit Management Corporation for the California Citrus Historical State park. She writes the “Trail Travels” column for Ride Magazine, and has published five books on various subjects from families to education to trail ride guides.

DIRECTORS

Leon Armantrout: From a farm in western Kansas, Leon Armantrout came to Redlands by way of Kansas State College and the United States Air Force. With his undergraduate degree in Architecture, he married Margie Lemon in Redlands in May of 1960. While busy raising three children, they involved themselves in serving the community. They worked to save historic Prospect Park from 1963 to 1968 and helped establish Montessori in Redlands in 1976. Margie served as a Medical Technologist at Redlands Community Hospital for 16 years, then as Director for Montessori, and now helps her daughter Jami manage the Mitten Building Events Center. As an architect in Redlands since 1964, Leon has worked on many high-profile projects including the La-Z-Boy Chair Factory, United Methodist Church, Prospect Park Carriage House, ESRI campus buildings and café, Sacred Heart Pastoral Center, Montessori School, Mitten Building renovation, Citi-Bank Building update in the downtown. Presently, he is working on the adaptive re-use of the Redlands Santa Fe Depot building and complex.

Kathy Behrens

Dr. Roger Bell: Dr. Bell earned his PhD in Higher Education from the University of Washington and launched his career in education as Dean of Students at the University of Redlands. He has lived in Redlands since 1970, and he and his wife Carol raised three children in Redlands after moving from Claremont. He subsequently taught for the University of Redlands, worked in several counseling centers, and eventually formed a company to design and build trails. As head of that company, he has completed over 400 trail-building projects in 14 states. In Redlands, he built the Oakmont Trail (Heritage Trail #1), Teddy’s Trail (#2), and Creekside Trail (#12), and he has built several miles of trails in the nearby Crafton Hills and the San Bernardino National Forest. He is currently Board Vice Chair of the national organization American Trails, he was honored by the Professional Trailbuilders Association “for outstanding excellence in trail design and construction”; and he has written numerous articles for American Trails Magazine and a book of poems, “Trail Tales,” about his adventures during 37 years of building trails.

Chris Christopherson

Robert Dawes: Raised in Southern California, Robert Dawes has lived in Redlands most of the years since 1988. He has also spent nine years in Europe where he saw the benefits of conserving the past. Robert is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Masters Degree in International Business. Before his retirement in 2008, Robert served as Auditor General of the United States Air Force in Washington DC. He has been a Redlands Conservancy board member since shortly after the organization was founded.

Judy Godon: Judy Godon has served on the Redlands Conservancy’s board of directors since 1998, and has served as the Membership Chair for most of those years. During this time, she has had the opportunity to reconstruct and build the membership. She also chaired the Conservancy’s Annual Fall Social, Membership Party, and Exposition for many years, and has seen the event grow in size and fund-raising capability. Since her two sons started school, she has been an elementary school teacher at Mariposa School in Redlands.

Dr. Donn Grenda

Frank Herendeen: Frank Herendeen and his wife Rosemary moved to Redlands in 1998 from Orange County after purchasing the 1900 Victorian “Cinderella” house from Redlands City Council member Jon Harrison. Frank spent eight years restoring the home to its original Victorian glory. The home was the subject of the feature story and cover photo subject of “Victorian Homes” magazine and was also featured on HGTV’s “Restore America” series. Frank is president of the Historical Glass Museum, commissioner on the Redlands Cultural Arts Commission, co-founder of the Quilt and Home Show in Redlands, and he helped coordinate the purchase, relocation, and restoration of the 1988 Marten Andersen House, now located at 1153 Orange Street in Redlands.

Richard Hernandez

Bob Knight

Lisa Lechuga

Bettina McLeod

Anneli Pendley: Anneli Pendley began serving as a director of the Redlands Conservancy in 2008. She is a kindergarten teacher at Mariposa Elementary School in the Redlands Unified School District. A Redlands resident for since 1994, she is an artist, working in the medium of pastel painting, and focusing on painting oranges, historical homes, and surrounding landscapes. She says, “It seems very logical for me to be part of an organization that works to preserve those treasured elements of our community.”

Jim Sommer