
I’ve lived my entire life in Northeast Kansas – and a third generation Jayhawk.
Since 2010 I’ve been director on the board of The Merc Co+Op in Lawrence, Kansas and my wife and I have shopped there since it opened 50 years ago. It’s been an important of our life – as it was the only place to get organic products, supports local producers and invests in our community.
We garden organically at our rural home and have been member/owners of 3 phone and 2 electric cooperatives. I’ve also served as treasurer for the local Rural Water District. Co-ops insured that we had these services.
For most of my career I worked with adolescents in psychiatric and group home settings. Before all that, I worked at a farmer owned Co-Op, unloading grain at an elevator once managed by my grandfather in the 1930’s. That experience began my education about food and agribusiness.