Host Brian Buckley gives us an insider’s perspective on the life and times of retired dentist and Camptonville community activist Dr. Richard DicKard. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, raised in Southern California, spent time on a ranch and looking for copper and gold in Arizona. Studying Physics at UCLA brought a confrontation with Calculus, and a realization that his interests were more about working with people than being a lab scientist. A great score on a dental aptitude exam led to a dental ...
Jul 15, 2021•29 min•Ep. 34
Host Lori Burkart Frank brings us a glimpse into the life of Paul Cummings; where he came from, and how he became a key player in keeping Nevada County safe during emergencies. Growing up in San Diego, he hoped to become a military pilot. A degree in aviation and a pilot’s license resulted in work as an air traffic controller and on to a commission as an Air Force Navigator. Paul’s two kids were born at military bases but have become very much at home in Nevada County. Closing his Air Force care...
Jul 08, 2021•30 min•Ep. 33
Host Suzanne Webb moderates an in-depth introduction of Stuart Baker, new Executive Director of Nevada City Chamber of Commerce. Stuart grew up in Taos, New Mexico, where his first language was Dutch, spoken at home with his mother who’d immigrated from Holland to marry is Texas-born father, a travelling salesman whom she’d met on a holiday in Taos. The family later moved to a more benign climate in Santa Barbara, where Stuart attended UCSB, majoring in Communications with minor in Art History. ...
Jul 01, 2021•29 min•Ep. 32
Host Taylor Wolfe leads our exploration of the life and times of Kim Blix, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator in Nevada County’s Department of Public Health, and Operations Co-chief of the County’s Emergency Operations Center. She’s also a volunteer with Nevada County Search and Rescue. Kim’s parents brought their family to Nevada County when she was a “wee bairn,” and she attended school at Deer Creek, Seven Hills, and Nevada Union. Off to UC Davis for education, to live a couple of years in Co...
Jun 24, 2021•30 min•Ep. 31
Host Keith Porter leads the investigation into the life and times of Brain Terhorst. An aspiring archaeologist when a medical condition limited his physical activity, he switched to the field of historic preservation and ultimately to radio broadcasting. He started volunteering at KVMR in 1991 and rose to become General Manager. In 2007 he was recruited to become General Manager at North State Public Radio in Chico until returning to Nevada County in 2016, joining the KVMR Board of Directors and...
Jun 17, 2021•30 min•Ep. 30
Host Brian Buckley helps us trace the life journey of Trisha Tillotson, who’s just being promoted from her position as Public Works Director to become head of the Nevada County’s entire Community Development Agency. A local girl since landing here at one year old, she attended local schools and graduated from Nevada Union. She went away to earn her Civil Engineering at CSU Chico and worked her way back home to live, work and help build and enrich our community. Trisha’s education as a Civil Engi...
Jun 10, 2021•28 min•Ep. 29
Host Lori Burkart Frank leads our discovery of the life and times of Susan Clarabut, a woman with education in her blood; Grandmother, Mom, Aunts and Uncles were all teachers. A former teacher, principal and Assistant Superintendent, she was elected to the Nevada County Board of Education in 2020. Susan would probably never have left her work in a one-room school in the Redwoods, but her husband was transferred here in his work with CalFire and they’ve adapted well and lived in Nevada County for...
Jun 03, 2021•30 min•Ep. 28
Host Brian Buckley leads a deep dive into the life and times of a passionate and innovative educator. There’s a deeper work going on in education that doesn’t hit the news about closed classrooms and online learning. One great example is Heather’s “dual immersion” bi-lingual magnet program at Bell Hill Academy in Grass Valley. Growing up in a family of teachers in Redding, California, she discovered her love of languages and after thinking about other life directions, eventually found her future...
May 27, 2021•29 min•Ep. 27
Host Keith Porter leads the exploration of the life and times of a creative person whose great interest in life has always been understanding why people do what they do. Michael studied Psychology and Philosophy, and has developed and written about a unique approach called CARE Parenting—for Caring Adults and Respectful Environments. He’s an active counselor and therapist, a volunteer counselor for inmates at Folsom Prison, and a DJ at KVMR who loves exploring the outer reaches of R&B and So...
May 13, 2021•30 min•Ep. 26
Host Brian Buckley leads our journey of discovery into the life and times of a mayor of a small mountain town, who bought a home here sight-unseen on the day of the great Bay Area 1989 earthquake. Growing up in Lafayette with older brothers led Erin to a number of experiences in activism and the choice to get arrested or not at protests. From enjoying school and community theater, Erin tried the LA acting scene and decided that wasn’t a great career choice. A shift to early childhood education l...
May 06, 2021•28 min•Ep. 25
Host Lori Burkart Frank takes us on a journey into the life and times of an Adult Services Librarian. We learn that Megan Lloyd grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, but wasn’t that interested in reading until her mother read Harry Potter to her in the third grade. Grandmother was an elementary school librarian and her influence ultimately sealed the deal on books! Megan came to California to attend University of Redlands, after a college recruiter noticed that she was “looking for something a little...
Apr 29, 2021•30 min•Ep. 24
Host Taylor Wolfe introduces us to Ember Amador, who is passionate about understanding the history and culture in the Yuba/Bear watershed before the population explosion of the gold rush. Her experience with a nonprofit organization, Honey Root, focused on somatic education and led to a role doing event planning for workshops. Ember met Shelley Covert, the spokespserson for the local Nisenan people and Executive Director of California Heritage Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP) at a workshop on...
Apr 22, 2021•29 min•Ep. 23
Host Keith Porter leads the adventure tracing Janie’s life from fishing with her father on Long Island Sound to a degree in Cinema to finding kindred spirits in San Francisco to non-violent civil disobedience training to protests and arrests and finding her home on the San Juan Ridge. We hear about her work with the Peace and Justice Center of Nevada County and many other community organizations and initiatives, her experiences being arrested for civil disobedience, her passion for home-schoolin...
Apr 15, 2021•29 min•Ep. 22
Host Lori Burkart Frank pulls back the curtain with an in-depth introduction, tracing Diana’s life from growing up in Newton, Mass., loving animals, being influenced by family to be aware of social justice and world affairs, and heading off to college at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Working at a Wall Street firm motivated her free spirit to search for a less stressful environment without business attire and high heels, and she discovered simple living and a creative environment in Nevada C...
Apr 08, 2021•29 min•Ep. 21
Host Suzanne Webb brings us an in-depth introduction to Bup, who grew up in Southern Nevada County raising cows through 4H to sell them at auctions at the fair. She says cows are not the smartest, but are nice. Childhood was fun on 40 rural acres, and a telephone party line shared with many neighbors. She studied philosophy at UC Davis, but then became a lab assistant at the UC Davis Veterinary school to continue her interest in animals from years in 4H. Helping new lab workers learn the trade m...
Apr 01, 2021•28 min•Ep. 20
Host Brian Buckley takes us on a deep dive into Ben’s background and motivations for serving as Mayor of a small but dynamic city. From his local roots with a father and grandfather with long histories of public service, Ben studied business at Sonoma State and caught the bug for contributing to community ventures. Returning to take his place in the family business, A&A Air Conditioning and Heating, Ben is busy with multiple roles in the business, with his family and two youngsters and, of c...
Mar 25, 2021•30 min•Ep. 19
Host Taylor Wolfe talks with Erica about her life, her work and her passion for public service. From childhood in a family with Asian immigrant grandparents in the Bay Area and time at her grandfather’s community hub-style grocery store, to “weekend warrior” skiing adventures to Tahoe, she learned to love the mountain environment. An environmental degree from UC Davis and internships and paid positions with the state in Sacramento eventually led to her “dream job” with the city of Truckee. Along...
Mar 18, 2021•29 min•Ep. 18
Host Keith Porter helps trace Lance's life from early childhood in London blitz, to America and a stint in Viet Nam, to adventures in early Silicon Valley Tech including founding his own start-up, to making Nevada County a better community through music with InConcert Sierra and co-founding Sierra Foothills Village to help a growing senior community maintain self-sufficient lives.
Mar 11, 2021•30 min•Ep. 17
Host Lori Burkart Frank traces Andrew’s life journey from birth in Southern California to growing up in Nevada County and attending Bear River High School. Starting as dispatcher with Nevada County Sheriff’s office, he also spent time with Placer County and managing a satellite office in Truckee. He spent two years traveling extensively throughout the US and Canada, training law enforcement personnel in best practices and leadership, returning to manage the dispatch function in Nevada County and...
Mar 04, 2021•30 min•Ep. 16
Host Brian Buckley retraces Alex's life experience from the San Juan Ridge, to college at Bar Harbor Maine, to guiding kayak and wilderness adventures in the Sierra and abroad in places like the Amazon rain forest. Learn why he chose to come back and settle in Nevada County, and share his adventure kayaking the South Yuba River from its headwaters at Lake Van Norden to San Francisco Bay. Hear about his passion for Expeditionary Learning to build character and culture, and his belief in the carin...
Feb 25, 2021•28 min•Ep. 15
Host Taylor Wolfe leads us in discovering Rebecca’s life journey from the South side of Chicago to a degree in Psychology at Barnard College in Boston when she found baking more fun than studying other people. Time at the French Culinary Institute’s Pastry program, owning and operating several food service businesses and a marketing degree from St. Joseph’s University propelled Rebecca into working as a consultant with national food co-op businesses, which ultimately brought her to a key positio...
Feb 18, 2021•28 min•Ep. 14
Host Keith Porter helps Scott retrace his life from New Orleans to Los Angeles to Nepal to Nevada City to Uganda, and now to his new position as Nevada County's Public Health Officer. Scott talks about bridging work and play as one of life's rewards, and expresses gratitude for relationships and their importance to fulfillment. We learn a bit about the challenges and opportunities in his role as a guide through the pandemic of our lifetimes.
Feb 11, 2021•30 min•Ep. 13
Host Lori Burkart Frank interviews Sue, a 5th generation Nevada County ranch girl who's been a life-long advocate for agriculture and resources conservation and is grateful for all the gifts of our community, including her first spring calf born today. After her first year on the County Board of Supervisors, Sue talks about gaining a broader vision of the issues and solutions for living in our area, and although she cannot please everyone, how she's enjoying her new leadership role.
Feb 04, 2021•29 min•Ep. 12
Host Brian Buckley interviews Greg about his life and his work as our County election official. Follow his life from Swarthmore College, to Rutgers for a law degree, to San Francisco for immersion in the field of administering elections, and finally to Nevada County where he and his team have successfully managed elections since 2007.
Jan 28, 2021•29 min•Ep. 11
Anne Wood is a childhood polio survivor, pediatric respiratory therapist, aids and gay rights activist, mom to 17 biological, adopted and foster kids, and survivor of the Jones wildfire that destroyed her ranch home in August, 2019.
Jan 14, 2021•30 min•Ep. 10
Host Lori Burkart Frank helps trace Jean Creasey's life journey from youth through becoming a dental hygienist to dentist to community activist, dental public health advocate and international humanitarian.
Jan 11, 2021•29 min•Ep. 9
This interview with Amigo Bob Cantisano, who died on Dec. 26, 2020, originally aired on September 13, 2017, as an episode of “The Sages Among Us.” The interview ranges over many topics, including Amigo’s relationship with nature, how he learned to farm, how he became hooked on organic farming, and his ideas about its future. Amigo Bob, who started California’s first natural foods distribution company, first organic farm supply company, and first organic crop consulting agency, also hosted a mont...
Dec 30, 2020•29 min•Ep. 8
Artist and community activist David Sparky Parker is a colorful and energetic community activist in Western Nevada County, California.
Dec 10, 2020•29 min•Ep. 7
Host Lori Burkart Frank helps discover why Bob is the quintessential "man for all seasons," following his life from civil service to education (including a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from UC Berkeley) to economics and finance, to health care, to outdoor activities and climate activism. Bob discusses his reasons for moving to Nevada County, his love of living in a co-housing environment, and his new adventures as he enters politics as a new member of the Grass Valley City Council.
Dec 03, 2020•28 min•Ep. 6
Host Brian Buckley taps Donn Harris' creative energy to reveal his journey from Queens to Santa Monica to San Francisco and Oakland (with a detour to Iceland courtesy of the US Air Force) and finally to Nevada County, drawn here by the arts scene, the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, the natural environment and the authenticity and intelligent community discourse of the "locals."
Oct 29, 2020•28 min•Ep. 5
