Jacksonville Review – March 2024 Issue
Jacksonville could easily celebrate Women’s History Month all year long and still need more days to honor all the inspiring and influential women in our community. The Review is shining a spotlight on some of these amazing women—the leaders in our government and non-profit organizations who are making history today.
In photo l-r: Abby McKee, Andrea Thompson, Mayor Donna Bowen, Carolyn Kingsnorth, Cindy Rasmussen, and Sue Miler. Photo by Craig Alan Photography.
Donna Bowen, Mayor of Jacksonville—As only the third woman Mayor of Jacksonville, I first learned about governing in Jacksonville when my husband, Clark, and I purchased an 1863 circa home in town and did a complete renovation. My interaction with the Historic and Architectural Review Commission (HARC) sparked an interest in preserving the history of Jacksonville. I soon joined the HARC and served six years, ending as Commission Chair. I applied to be appointed to the Budget Committee and continued that duty, along with running for City Council. Two years into my term on Council, I ran for Mayor and have served the city in that capacity for the last three years.
My previous experience as an Operations Manager for various brokerage firms prepared me for handling all manner of issues quickly and to completion. However, I could not do my job as Mayor without the expertise and dedication I receive from your City Council, City Staff, and the people who volunteer for our Committees and Commissions. I especially love interacting with the young people who visit City Hall. They are our future and so eager to learn, and experience, the idea of what it takes to run a city.
I am proud of the changes I helped create here. Jacksonville is now safer from fire, we have a widely diverse Council, and a vibrant town with a great future. I look forward to the upcoming changes and projects we are working toward for Jacksonville.
Carolyn Kingsnorth, Founder, Historic Jacksonville Inc.— Part of what brought me to Jacksonville in 2003 was the town’s National Historic Landmark District. My BA degree was in history, but my 40-year career was in marketing and organizational management. Jacksonville offered an opportunity to return to my roots. I became immersed in the town, its history, and its organizations.
In 2010, when the Southern Oregon Historical lost its county tax funding, they abandoned their Jacksonville buildings. They could not afford to keep them; Jacksonville could not afford to lose them. I became part of a non-profit that took over their management and began creating activities to continue sharing the history with the public. Without activities to bring them alive, the town was just old buildings.
When Jackson County gave the former SOHS buildings to the City in 2012, we morphed into a new non-profit, Historic Jacksonville, Inc., partnering with the City in opening Jacksonville’s only two remaining museums—the 1870s Beekman House, home to the town’s richest pioneer family, and the 1863 Beekman Bank, the oldest financial institution in the Pacific Northwest.
Thanks to dedicated volunteers, Historic Jacksonville, Inc. opens both for regular tours. We’ve also added “Walk through History” tours, video, and blog, providing overviews of Jacksonville’s gold rush history. Haunted History tours share the legacy of the spirits lingering in the town’s historic buildings. We are now partnering with the City to create real and virtual tours that recognize all of Jacksonville as a museum!
If I had a legacy, I hope that it would emphasize that history is not names, dates, places, and battles. It’s the people and their stories—who we were is who we are!
Abby McKee, CEO, Britt Music & Arts Festival—
I arrived in May 2022 to lead Britt Music & Arts Festival. I moved here from Portland, but I’ve lived all over; I grew up in rural Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains, went to college and grad school in South Carolina, Texas, and San Francisco, and have lived in San Diego, Portland, and more. I used to be a professional flutist, and I transitioned into arts administration in my late twenties when I realized the impact I could have in building strong and creative communities. My hometown had 8,000 permanent residents and 24,000 college students, and the university meant that I had access to strong arts programs in our rural area. Because of that, the opportunity to lead Britt really spoke to my soul. Britt’s mission is all about inspiring community and discovery through the arts, specifically highlighting the unique venue of the Britt Hill in Jacksonville. That combination of creativity and a sense of place drew me here, and I feel unbelievably lucky to call the Rogue Valley home now. I am privileged to work with teammates who’ve called this place home for decades, and I feel lucky to be surrounded by the powerful women leaders of Jacksonville. While I am only two years in (and with many to go, I hope!), my goal for Britt is to leave a legacy of stewardship for our special park, a strong artistic vision, and magical memories of our community gathering together on the hill.
Sue Miler, Board President, Jacksonville Community Center—As Board President for the Jacksonville Community Center, I work with our staff and board members as the Center helps to build community for all ages in Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. I got involved with JCC back in 2015 when my neighbor Grace Emori said “There are people in town trying to get a community center built. You know about grants, yes?” Well, I did know about grants, having dealt for decades with federal, state and foundation grants for programs—literally hundreds of millions of dollars. But I knew nothing about doing a capital campaign to fund a center. However, I thought it would be interesting to learn some new things about fundraising and it turns out it’s easier to raise money for a building than for operating programs! I am gratified that my efforts helped to raise over $750,000 to build an expanded Center, which now offers wellness, arts, music, recreation, education, and cultural enrichment activities for adults and children. We have a wonderful group of staff and volunteers whose energies and skills make the Center hum. I like to think I help to secure resources and to set the tone for possibilities, growth and, of course, fun! I am proud of my work over the past decades to help several nonprofits flourish. But I am most proud of having a wonderful mate, David Doi, who has helped in raising two great children who are now loving and successful adults with their own families. Life is good!
Andrea Thompson, Jacksonville City Councilor—It’s an honor to serve the citizens of Jacksonville as a City Councilor. While many have grown disaffected by politics in Washington D. C. or Salem, local politics remains an arena to make a difference and have our voices heard.
My career in higher education prepared me for this work, where I encouraged my students to articulate their views and find mutual ground during debates…valuable when working on a City Council. I learned as much from them as they did from me.
My principal focus on the Council has been helping minimize the danger of a wildland fire. In California I witnessed its catastrophic effects in Paradise, CA. In hours, a thriving town was reduced to rubble and ash. Jacksonville is similarly vulnerable, a fact reinforced by the Almeda Fire sweeping through Talent and Phoenix.
As Councilors, we worked together to outline a strategic and comprehensive plan to help our community become better prepared. We revised the Emergency Operations Plan for the City, updated evacuation plans, alert notifications, and fuel reduction. I drafted articles on making homes and communities better prepared and worked with Firewise, CERT, City Public Works and county and state organizations to prepare for the unforeseen. Working with Fire Chief Painter, we drafted grants to support fuel reduction in and around Jacksonville including Forest Park. When asked how I wish to be described in my role, I’d say simply, “I listened carefully, did my homework and came to work each day with the goal of making the city a better place to live.”
Cindy Rasmussen, Citizens for a Safer Jacksonville—My husband and I discovered Jacksonville in early 2006 by accident when we began looking for somewhere to retire from the Bay Area in California. We literally drove into town, and I said, “This is it!” Without any due diligence, we simply fell in love and then found and bought an old house on S. Third Street and spent the next 8 years traveling back and forth on weekends to work on the interior. (Sound familiar?) After many trips and many dollars later, we moved full-time in May 2014 to this amazing place. We are thrilled every day to wake up in this amazing, welcoming little town!
Over time we noticed more traffic and big trucks on our street, as construction projects developed further up the street from us. Speeding became a bigger problem, and we worried about pedestrians, and wildlife on our very popular walking street. Finally, we decided “Enough!” and I spoke at a City Council meeting one year ago, and then formed our volunteer group which we call, “Citizens for a Safer Jacksonville.” We quickly collected over 350 signatures from folks who are equally concerned about speeding and traffic issues. We have now developed a list of recommendations which were presented to the Council last August and hope to see the implementation of some plans in the next 3-4 months! My passion now is to protect our pedestrians, pets and wildlife and we hope you will join us in this mission!
Linda Davis, Jacksonville Firewise Coordinator—
I became involved with Firewise, a national organization which exists to help neighbors increase the resistance of their homes from wildfire risk at the local level. Firewise works with the Jacksonville Fire Department and the citizens of Jacksonville.
Back in 2017, I heard about the Jacksonville Firewise program, and because I lived near the Jacksonville Woodlands and saw wildfires nearby, I decided to become a Firewise Neighborhood Leader. In 2020, I was recruited by Jacksonville CERT to become the Jacksonville Firewise Coordinator for the entire town. Thanks to my professional career as a transit safety consultant and entrepreneur, I had some of the key skills needed to reach out to others and build awareness of the program and develop it on a city-wide basis.
Luckily, I had lot of help doing so from the Jacksonville Fire Department, under the direction of Fire Chief Wayne Painter, Jacksonville CERT members, my Deputy Jeff McFarland, and the 39 Firewise leaders in the participating neighborhoods. All provided funding, performed risk assessments, worked at wildfire cleanup days, and implemented defensible space in their neighborhoods. It’s gratifying to see the impacts on neighborhoods after doing the risk assessments and when homeowners implement our recommendations to minimize wildfire risk. I am also proud that Jacksonville was recognized by the Office of the State Fire Marshall for our Firewise program efforts. (Linda Davis is shown here with her 2023 Silver Sparky award.)