Contributors to Footnotes on the Butte

Leah Murray is a native to the Willamette Valley. Born in Cottage Grove, she hasn’t ventured very far from her deep valley roots. She has worked in a variety of fields including home health, security, hospitality, and janitorial before discovering her true passion in nonprofit life. Leah is a graduate of both Lane Community College and the University of Oregon, and spent a year as an AmeriCorps*VISTA. 
 
In addition to being the Executive Director of Shelton McMurphey Johnson House since 2014, Leah is the co-chair of the Downtown Neighborhood Association, Vice Chair of the City of Eugene’s Historic Commission, and the Program Chair for the American Association of University Women Eugene/Lane branch. She is also the Chair of the Storybook Theatre of Cottage Grove. 
 
When not attending a meeting or running the museum, Leah enjoys gardening, reading, and spending time with her family in the Santa Clara area of Eugene. She is grateful that she gets to share her passion for historic preservation and nonprofit service with anyone who will listen. 

Zachary Stocks is a public historian, interpreter, and the Executive Director of Oregon Black Pioneers. Zachary previously served as Program Director of Historical Seaport and Visitor Services Manager of Northwest African American Museum.

He is a former intern of Colonial Williamsburg and Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and is a former seasonal Park Ranger at Lewis & Clark National Historical Park. He holds a BA in History from the College of William & Mary with a certificate in Public History from the National Institute for American History and Democracy, and an MA in Museology from the University of Washington. Zachary lives in Astoria.

Lauri Holts is an Ecologist in the City of Eugene’s Parks and Open Space Division. She has over 30 years of experience in the natural resources field with an emphasis on planning and implementing habitat enhancement projects and guiding natural area conservation and stewardship in urban and rural communities. She has worked for a range of employers including educational institutions, non-profits, watershed councils, and government agencies from the northern Willamette Valley to northern California. She has a B.S. in Biology from University of California- Santa Cruz and an M.S. in Marine Science from UC-Santa Cruz. 

Lauri has been with the City since 2003 and has been the lead for habitat enhancement work and fish and wildlife monitoring on several large-scale habitat enhancement projects including at Delta Ponds and Golden Gardens Parks. Other program areas include a long-term riparian enhancement planning and implementation plan for Amazon Creek and wildfire fuels reduction at Skinner Butte and several other neighborhood natural area sites. She acted as a co-lead for the Upper Willamette Chapter of the Oregon Native Turtle Working Group from 2009 through 2023. Lauri has a strong background in natural resource issues with an ability to communicate well and work effectively with diverse groups of people.

David G. Lewis is a citizen of the Grand Ronde tribe. a descendant of the Santiam, Chinook, Takelma and Molalla peoples of Western Oregon. He is an assistant Professor of Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at OSU. David does research on Oregon tribes, consults throughout the valley, and published a book Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley in 2023. He lives in Salem with his wife Donna.

Eric Richardson moved to Eugene from St. Louis, Missouri, with his family in 1971 when he was four years old. Richardson was the local NAACP president of for six years before transitioning to being executive director for an additional two years. He currently works to improve the environment with the NAACP through Beyond Toxics. 

Peter Marquardt has been a long time volunteer, and spent his working years enjoying the company of senior citizens as a career. 

He is a long distance kayaker, and boat builder. He is multi-lingual and have even been known to have barking conversations with dogs of other nations. Humor is his safe place.   

Joseph D. Fenicle, PS is the Program Director and full time Assistant Professor at the University of Akron for their award-winning Surveying/Mapping Program in Akron, Ohio. Immediately prior to that Fenicle was the Chief Surveyor with the Office of the Fulton County Engineer in Wauseon, Ohio from 2005 to 2020. Fenicle worked with J.C. Andrus & Associates in Toledo from 1996 to 2005 and specialized in boundary retracement and remonumentation in Ohio and Michigan. In 2003, he took a sabbatical to New Hampshire and represented a large multidisciplinary firm surveying throughout multiple New England states. Fenicle was also an adjunct faculty member with Owens Community College teaching various surveying courses between 2002 and 2009 and at the University of Toledo in 2019. Fenicle is also a long-time member of the remonumentation peer group for Lenawee and formerly Monroe County Michigan.

He continues to write, research and speak on various surveying related topics and also runs a business specializing in continuing professional development for land surveyors across the nation. Fenicle received his AAS in GIS/GPS from Hocking Technical College, BS in Surveying/Mapping from the University of Akron, a MS from the University of Maine and is currently pursuing his Doctorate also from the University of Maine. He became licensed in Ohio in 2002 and in Michigan in 2004. He obtained his FAA license in 2019.

Fenicle relocated from Michigan to Ohio in the summer of 2020. He resides in Hudson, Ohio with his wife of over twenty years and three teenage boys who help him survey.