About Us – Staff – Mission and Vision – Annual Report
Lopez Hamlet 2026 Board of Directors
Barbara Orcutt, Chair
Barbara is a lactation specialist and parent educator with a master’s degree in Family and Child Nursing. Barbara’s mom, Gale, was the first Hamlet resident and lived at the Cottages and Hamlet House. Barbara provides occasional interim nursing backup at Hamlet House.
Kip Greenthal, Vice Chair
Kip Robinson Greenthal worked in school and public libraries for eighteen years. In 1993, she founded and directed Seattle Arts & Lectures’ award winning Writers in the Schools program. She has attended Hedgebrook and participated in the Jack Straw Writers Program, and has published several short stories. Her first novel, Shoal Water, published by Homebound Publications in October, 2021, won the Landmark Prize for Fiction and a 2022 Silver Nautilus Award. Working on a second novel, she now lives on Lopez Island full-time with her husband, Stanley Greenthal.
Mary Ann Cameron, Secretary
Mary Ann is a native Washingtonian and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Communications. She worked in health care public relations for several Seattle hospitals as well as Blue Cross, and also was associated with Rick Steves’ Europe for many years. She has served on the Board of Directors for REI and the Edmonds Arts Festival, and is a board member for the Lopez Island Vineyards and Winery. She first visited Lopez in 1965 and she and her husband have owned property on the island since 1989. Mary Ann has been an active volunteer with the Lopez Thrift Shop for more than 30 years. She guided her mother through the maze of senior living “opportunities” in her golden years, and learned much in the process of going from independent living to assisted living to nursing home care. Her “been there, done that” experience makes her very grateful for the resource The Hamlet is for the Lopez community.
Charlie Bookman, Treasurer
Residing on Lopez Island since 2019, Charles Bookman works at the intersection of engineering and policy. From 1978 until 2000, he advised Congress and Cabinet Departments about economic growth and the environment through his work at the Marine Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Relocating to Seattle in 2000, he directed Traffic Operations and Street Maintenance at the Seattle Department of Transportation. He continues to build successful organizations, challenge old ideas and create communities through pro bono consulting for nonprofit organizations. He holds a Master’s of Marine Affairs degree from the University of Rhode Island and a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Columbia University. He is married with two grown sons, a stepson, and five grandchildren.
June Coover
June Coover retired in 2022 after a 35-year career in the field of environmental consulting, most recently as a partner in a global firm whose focus was sustainability. She and her husband moved to Lopez in summer of 2019 and have fallen in love with the community and its people. June’s passion is helping people and she also serves on the board for Lopez Island Home and Hospice Support. When not volunteering, she and her husband spend time with their kids who are scattered down the west coast and in nature camping, hiking and loving the natural wonders of this world!
Polly Ham
Polly taught high school art and social studies in a Cambridge alternative program within the public schools and was Director of their Wilderness Program including rock climbing, solos, winter camping, cross country skiing, and white water canoeing. After seven years, she taught and did her own clay work at the Radcliffe Pottery Studio. Coming to Lopez in 1981, she continued her work in clay until teaching art at the Lopez High School. Since then, she created clay and paper-mache sculpture and taught classes in her own studio until her husband Steve Horn’s illness in 2020. She has been a resident of a Hamlet Cottage since 2023. It was such a blessing to be in the Hamlet Community for the last year of Steve’s life. She got her BA at Northwestern University and a Master of Arts in Teaching at Harvard University’s School of Education.
Karen Johnson
Karen Johnson has lived on Lopez Island since September 2010. She and her husband, Bill Johnson, have been married for 31 years. Lopez is also a long-time part of her family history – her parents built a home on the island in 1979. Karen is the mother of five and grandmother of five, with another grandchild due soon. She serves on the Board of the Lopez Senior Center and the Board of The Hamlet. Known for her Mediterranean-style cooking, Karen also enjoys reading, traveling, and knitting clothing for her family.
Logan Knight