The Authors of the OE
Mark Beach earned a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and conducted post doctoral research at the Smithsonian Institution. He moved to Oregon after teaching at Cornell University and the University of Rochester. Mark lives near Manzanita on the coast, where he collects historical photos and teaches workshops about local history. You can see some of his photo collection at http://www.neahkahnievisions.smugmug.com.
James Hawthorne Beck is the great grandson of Dr. James C. Hawthorne and a life-long resident of Portland. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Oregon State College in 1952, and served with the U.S. Army Medical Corps during the Korean War. Beck served as a research assistant in Oregon Health & Sciences University's (OHSU) Dept. of Medicine, working on Diabetes and Metabolism, Experimental Medicine, and Medical Genetics, 1962-1970. Subsequently, he worked with the Oregon State Health Division's Implied Consent Program, Radiation Control, and Public Health Laboratories until retirement in 1998. In 2001 he established the Hawthorne Library in the Psychiatry Dept. of OHSU with assistance from Dr. David Cutler.
Anne Marie Becka is communications director at Willamette University College of Law. Prior to joining the law school in 2005, she was managing editor/production manager for a magazine publisher in Raleigh, N.C. She also worked in newsletter publishing in Chicago and book publishing in St. Louis. Throughout her career, she has held a number of corporate marketing communications positions. She earned master's degrees in print journalism (M.S.) and English literature (M.A.) and completed the Stanford University Professional Publishing Program.
Ralph Beebe holds a B.A. from George Fox University (1954), an M.Ed. from Linfield College (1955), and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Oregon (1969, 1972). He taught history at Willamette and Churchill high schools (1957-1974) and at George Fox (1974-1997), where he is now professor emeritus. He is a member of Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church and has written its history (A Garden of the Lord, 1968), the history of George Fox University (I, 1991), Blessed are the Peacemakers: The Life of a Palestinian Christian, 1990, 2003), and three other books.
George H. Bell was reared in Klamath Falls. After service in the U.S. Navy, he earned a B.A. and an M.A. in English from the University of Oregon. His career was in journalism, higher education, and state government. He was Oregon's Assistant Secretary of State during Tom McCall's two terms as governor. His op-ed pieces and feature stories have been published in many Northwest newspapers and magazines. He is retired and lives in Salem.
Laura Berg is a communication consultant based in Portland, Oregon. She studied Native American Studies at the University of Montana and holds an undergraduate degree in history from Portland State University. For more than a decade, she served as public information officer and manager for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. Her work continues to involve environmental and American Indian related projects. She is editor of The First Oregonians (Oregon Council for the Humanities and OSU Press, 2007), which chronicles the history, heritage, and cultural continuity of the indigenous peoples of Oregon.
Jack Berry was a reporter and reviewer for the The Oregonian and a reporter and producer at KATU Television in Portland. Currently, he is an archivist for Oregon Public Broadcasting and is working on a book about Jim Pepper.
An accomplished geologist, photographer, environmental advocate, and teacher, Ellen Morris Bishop also happens to be passionate about Oregon's geology. Ellen holds a Ph.D. in Geology from Oregon State University, has researched Oregon's most ancient terranes, authored three books for the general public, including award-winning In Search of Ancient Oregon, and published multiple technical publications. She presently teaches and develops geology programs at Columbia Gorge Community College, and is Programs Director at the Oregon Paleo Lands Institute. Her photographic images portray the Northwest's most geologically-telling landscapes. She lives in Central Oregon with her husband and 3 dogs.
Patricia L. Blair has worked with The Storytelling Guild (www.storytellinguild.org) Medford (Jackson County) to produce Children's Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon for 43 years. Pat, recipient of 2006 Jefferson Award and Oregon Library Association's Lampman Award, was Children's Librarian/Coordinator of Children's Services for Jackson County Library until 2001 and an OLA Life Member. The Medford Library's Children's Room is named for Pat Blair. She is a past board member of The Britt Music Festival, Carpenter Foundation, The Ginger Rodgers Theater, and Rogue Valley Art Association. She is a Life Member of RVAA and a member of Plein Air Painters of Oregon.
Peter Boag, a native of Portland, descends from Oregon Trail pioneers who arrived in the Pacific Northwest in the 1850s. He earned his Ph.D. in history at the University of Oregon (1988) and has taught as a professor at Idaho State University (1989-2002) and the University of Colorado, Boulder (2002-2009). Since 2009 he has held the Columbia Chair in the History of the American West at Washington State University. Professor Boag has written and published on the history and culture of the Pacific Northwest and the American West.
