Our Board of Directors
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Katee Withee
President
My love of history and public service led me to an education and career in Archaeology, with an interest in public interpretation. I am an Archaeologist for a local, federal land management agency and I am very interested in the relationship to and connections between the Kam Wah Chung Co. and local archaeological discoveries.
Serving as a board member for the Friends of Kam Wah Chung organization is an incredibly humbling and exciting opportunity that I very much look forward to.
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Karen Jacobs
Secretary
My first visit to Kam Wah Chung was a solo tour with Carolyn Micnhimer, nearly 30 years ago. She brought the place to life and at that moment I knew this was a unique and special place.
I feel fortunate to serve with this enthusiastic group to help preserve and extend this historical gem to future visitors.
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Taci Philbrook
Board member
I am passionate about preserving historical cultures and the historical archives being housed in museums. With information so easily accessible on the web, I fear that one day museums will become obsolete. But nothing can beat a hands-on approach, or getting up close and personal with history. A museum can inspire someone to form their own unique experience with history. They are informal learning centers full of lessons in humanity. Museums preserve legacies of communities.
I would like to be a part of the preservation efforts in retaining the rich legacies inside the Kam Wah Chung museum. My efforts will directly affect community awareness of the historical icons, and the history housed therein. Thank you for this opportunity.
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Kevin Green
Board member
A lifelong love of history has continued to grow through my travels and previous work as an interpretive ranger. While on a road trip, my first visit to the Kam Wah Chung helped me realize that the John Day valley could be a place I called home. Now that I am here, I can’t learn enough about all of the people who came here before me! I am honored to be involved with the Friends of Kam Wah Chung and to do my part to help ensure that this one of a kind museum can share it’s stories and wonders.
Our Staff
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Dennis Bradley
OPRD Regional Manager
As Park Manager I was involved with the 2005 restoration campaign of Kam Wah Chung and have seen the building and collection come to life due to the many preservation projects that were completed. The most fascinating things to me are all the artifacts and apothecary area.
Having worked with a number of friends groups I would say the Kam Wah Chung Friends group are very compassionate about their mission and have contributed many hours of volunteer time and sought funding for a number of projects. The most recent and ongoing project involves the translation of documents written in Chinese. These documents once translated could tell many more stories of Doc Hay and Lung On and their prominence in the John Day community and region.
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Don Merritt
Museum Curator
Ever since I could remember, I have had a passion for western history, even through college. What I like about Kam Wah Chung is not only what we have already learned about this national treasure with the unique archival written histories and documents and unique items in the Kam Wah Chung building, but what we have yet to learn. The archaeological potential to add more to the story of the local Chinese history in John Day and to the Chinese experience in the west is quite exciting!