STEPHANIE B. STEVENS is a retired special education teacher. She was appointed to the Commission in 1979 and, as Commission Chair, has instigated many projects. Mrs. Stevens is the official Historian for the County of Hunterdon, and for many years served in that capacity for the Township of Readington. She is a published author of numerous books concerning the history of Readington Township, local slaves, mills, the significant Polish settlement in Whitehouse Station, the History of Round Valley and other topics of local interest.

Mrs. Stevens served as a member of the New Jersey Historic Trust and is a trustee of the Advocates for New Jersey History. She founded the Readington Township Museums, and served as mayor of Readington Township. She is a former member of the Governor’s Task Force on New Jersey History. In 1999 the NJ Legislature recognized her as a “NJ Woman of Distinction.” Mrs. Stevens presides at Commission meetings, and represents the Commission at official functions. Her current term expires 12/31/2014.

BEVERLY N. DRAKE has served as a Commissioner since 1980, and held the office of vice chair from 1993 to 2008. For many years she was an active member of the Hunterdon Medical Center Auxiliary, and volunteered her services for the benefit of Camp Isabel. Mrs. Drake resides in Pittstown and fosters an active interest in music, theatre and history and in the grant process that ensures local cultural growth and stabilization. Her current term expires 12/31/2012.

FRANK CURCIO is a resident of the Annandale section of Clinton Township. He served as President of the Clinton Township Historic Preservation Commission and as the township’s official Historian. Mr. Curcio is a retired schoolteacher who writes free-lance articles for several newspapers.

He became fascinated with lime kilns and lime burning, and penned an in-depth 132-page “working guide” published in 2006 as Hunterdon County’s Forgotten Lime Industry. Mr. Curcio has a special interest in historic roads, and his research on Hunterdon’s colonial roads will soon result in another published book on local history entitled: “The Roads of Home”. His current term expires 12/31/2012.

JAMES DAVIDSON is a resident of East Amwell Township where he was appointed the local historian in 2008 and is an active member of the East Amwell Historical Society and the township’s Preservation Committee. A lifetime Hunterdon resident and avid local historian, he was a co-author of a book on East Amwell and writes a column for the township’s monthly newsletter. He is an avid collector of Lindbergh memorabilia and has recently finished a book on The Lindbergh Kidnapping, a subject he often speaks on. A former history teacher, he is also a member of the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Board of Education. His current term expires 12/31/2015.

JANET MARSH HUNT is sole proprietor of the Coryell Gallery in Lambertville, and descends from a long line of nationally recognized artists. She is the daughter of James R. and noted artist Anne Steele Marsh, who founded the Hunterdon Art Center (now known as the Hunterdon Museum of Art) and the Hunterdon Historical Museum (now known as the Red Mill Museum Village).

Mrs. Hunt has been a member of the Delaware Valley Music Club for more than 40 years, is a member and past President of the Phillips Mill Community Association, and is a member and former Director of the Lambertville Area Chamber of Commerce. She is also a member of Hunterdon Museum of Art and ArtsBridge. Mrs. Hunt has been a Commissioner since June 1985. Her current term expires 12/31/2013.

LORA W. JONES was appointed to the Commission in 2007. She earned a BA, Journalism with Honors at Louisiana Polytechnic University, and worked in public relations/promotion for “Fortune 500” companies in fields of pharmaceuticals, medical instruments, hydrocarbon research, engineering, heavy construction, public utility services, employee benefits and insurance.

She is the founding curator of The Squibb Gallery for Squibb Corporation in Princeton, NJ, where she established gallery policy and operating procedures. Mrs. Jones was responsible for 1325 exhibitions of work ranging across all media from the historical to the contemporary and drawn from the US and ten other countries. She also helped create The Squibb Museum and wrote all copy for the displays. She was independent consultant and curator of six exhibitions at other corporate sites and art centers.

Mrs. Jones is a Trustee of the Hunterdon County Historical Society and Historian of Franklin Township, where she edited the township newsletter for several years. She is a long-time member of Franklin’s Open Space Advisory Committee and of Rural Awareness, a non-profit group that promotes civic activity and projects that preserve Franklin’s rich historical heritage. She co-authored the township’s 1999 Open Space and Recreation Plan and was the curator of a Hunterdon Art Museum exhibition based on the Hunterdon Hackberry tree, the largest in the county, as a fundraiser to preserve land. She served as a member of the 1995 Franklin Township Sesquicentennial Committee and as editor and production manager for the book Facts and Fantasies of Franklin by J. Edward Stout. Along with Dan and Mary Campanelli, Mrs. Jones wrote Franklin Township, Hunterdon County for Rural Awareness as an addition to Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series. She is a former Trustee of the Hunterdon County YMCA,  Hunterdon Art Museum, and New Jersey State Teen Arts. Her current term expires 12/31/2016.

JOHN KUHL was appointed Commissioner in January 1999. Mr. Kuhl is a lifelong resident of Hunterdon County, who, for years, worked in the agricultural business. He graduated Penn State with dual majors of Naval Science and Poultry Science before being commissioned as Ensign in the Regular Navy.
For more than 25 years Mr. Kuhl has enjoyed membership in the Hunterdon County Historical Society and other historical organizations. He is an avid collector of Civil War, a long-time researcher in genealogy, Three Bridges history, and New Jersey’s participation in the Civil War. Mr. Kuhl has written magazine articles and book sections on the Civil War, has written local histories, and is a sought-after lecturer on these topics. Mr. Kuhl’s book on Hunterdon’s Civil War Soldiers will be available in 2013.  His current term expires 12/31/15.

CHRISTOPHER PICKELL, AIA, was appointed Commissioner in 2005.  Chris heads Pickell Architecture in Flemington, NJ. Central to his philosophy is a respect for, and appreciation of the value of historic building styles, traditions, and practices. He has completed numerous designs for new buildings as well as additions and renovations to historic buildings. His firm was involved in a series of projects on Main Street in Flemington, and has collaborated with the New Jersey Barn Company on a series of projects using historic timber framed barns.

Mr. Pickell received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1984 and a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985, graduating cum laude. He is a Registered Architect in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

His generosity of time and talents smoothed the start-up of the Friends of the Fleming Castle and guided Holcombe-Jimison Farmstead Museum’s restoration of the oldest house in Hunterdon County. Since the start of the 2007 school year, Chris also has helped enrichment teachers in Holland Brook School develop an “Architecture-In-Education” program, teaching about various American architectural styles, architectural terminologies, and replicating historic buildings from cardboard. The Commission published a booklet "Why Does That House Look Like That?" - containing architecturally accurate drawings accompanied by lesson plans to teach 4-8th grade students. The cross-curriculum program developed involves a variety of learning styles as students work as mathematicians, scientists, historians, photographers, detectives, reporters and artists. His current term expires 12/31/2013.

ELIZABETH M. RICE was appointed to the Commission in January 2010. She is a 1987 graduate of Pennsylvania State University. Ms. Rice has served in numerous volunteer capacities, including as a homeroom parent and coordinator of Gallery Time and the Scholastic Book Fair for the Clinton Township PTA, and as a driver for Meals on Wheels. She is a Trustee (2006-present) of The 1759 Vought House, Inc. and of the Hunterdon County Historical Society, for which she is currently designing a new logo and a new website that will ultimately allow electronic delivery of their newsletter, data retrieval, and the online sale of books. Her current term expires 12/31/2016.

ESTELLE KATCHER joined the Commission in 1991 and served through 2006. Mrs. Katcher, who resides in Raritan Twp., was employed in the literary arts field and is an active Friend, Coordinator of Exhibitions, and Trustee and past Chairman of the Hunterdon Museum of Art. Estelle has remained an active participant in Commission activities, helping “greet and seat” at the Commission sponsored “Kids Kulture” programs and editing text for publications.

ANN SAUERLAND earned a BA from Doulgas College, Rutgers University, followed by an MA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.  She taught music classes at Hunterdon Central Regional High School for 29 years, while also serving as choirmaster/organist at the Stanton Reformed Church.  She served two terms as a member of the Commission from, 1992-2001.  As a member of the Grange, she wrote the History of NJ State Grange 1958-1965, directed the Voices for Charity choir, sat on the Highlands Library cooperative and the Hunterdon Central Foundation Board of Directors, and continues to be an active member of the Flemington Women’s Club and consistory of the church.  Since leaving the Commission, Ann has taken part in the Commission’s ongoing local arts planning efforts, and has helped “greet and seat’ at the Commission sponsored “Kids Kulture” programs.

JUNE FELTON KAPP was the founder and managing director of Soclair Music Festival, a summer chamber music concert series which celebrated its 30 th and concluding season in 2005. She served as a member of the Hunterdon Historical Museum’s Board of Trustees from 1974-78, and has been a board member and Chairman of the nominating committee of the Hunterdon Museum of Art since 1986. Mrs. Kapp served on the Commission’s 1997 and 2002 Block Grant Review Panels.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of the Commission, which would be unable to carry out its many programs without them. Members of the Retired Teachers Association spend hours annually reading and judging the forth grade student compositions entered in the Commission's “ The Most Historic Place in My Town” essay contest. Approximately 75 volunteers photographed farm structures for the Commission's 2000 photo-documentation project and the Commission's “ Art Goes to School” and “ Meet the Masters” art enrichment and appreciation projects are completely volunteer run.

JOAN WOLSIEFER retired from her positions as teacher and guidance counselor at Delaware Valley Regional High School. For many years she has been elected to the Hunterdon Central Regional High School Board of Education. She also serves on the Hunterdon County School Boards Association representing Hunterdon Central Regional High School on the Executive Committee. Ms. Wolsiefer has conducted numerous trips for the Adult, Continuing & Community Education/Travel Program of the Hunterdon County Educational Services Commission, and works tirelessly on the Jennie Haver Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee. She coordinated the Commission’s “Art Goes to School” art enrichment program from its inception in 1991 through the end of the 1996 school year. Each school year Ms. Wolsiefer assembled six new presentation portfolios -- complete with art prints, artist biographies, games and puzzles -- and demonstrated fun ways for the volunteers to present the works of art to young students. In addition to her coordination activities, Ms. Wolsiefer is also an active and respected classroom presenter. For many years she has assembled members of the Retired Teachers Association to judge fourth grade student compositions entered in the Commission’s “The Most Historic Place in My Town” essay contest.

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