John Halvorson

President
has lived in Lacey since 1972, after arriving from a dairy farm in Wisconsin and being stationed at McChord Air Force Base. Jon and his wife of 55 years, Janet, have one daughter and two grand-daughters. Jon received a BA degree in Government and International Relations from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, a MA in Educational Psychology from Ball State University at RAF Chicksands, England, and a Masters of Social Work from the University of Washington. He retired from the Department of Social and Health Services after 27 years and was elected to the Lacey City Council (1991-1999), including terms as Mayor from 1993 through 1996. Jon has served on the boards many local private and public organizations, including, the American Legion Post 94, Thurston County MEDIC ONE Council, Lacey Chamber of Commerce, Community Youth Services, and the North Thurston Education Foundation. Jon was honored as Thurston County’s Citizen of the Year in 2003, and was named a “Living Legend of Thurston County” in 2010

Cynthia Pratt

Vice PresidentCynthia and her husband moved to Olympia from California in 1966 and bought their house in Lacey in 1973 where they have raised their daughter and son. She worked for the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources for 27 years, retiring in 2008. She ran, and won a seat on the Lacey City Council beginning in 2010. After three terms she retired from local government after serving as Deputy Mayor for 8 of the 12 years. The City announced her as their inaugural poet laureate at her retirement, beginning January 2022. She is active in Suffragette enactments around Thurston County.

Kendra Hensley

Treasurer moved to Thurston County in 1996 after accepting a position in Research & Planning with the Washington State Patrol (WSP). She earned a Project Management Certification from University of Washington while working for WSP and went on to manage information technology projects for numerous state agencies. She left the state in November 2019. Kendra is a proud member of the Leadership Thurston County class of 2005. She received a Ph.D. in Applied Management and Decision Sciences in 2011. She was asked to serve as Lacey Historical Society Treasurer in June of 2023. She and her husband Monte are retired and live in Lacey.

Tim McGuire

Co-Secretary Tim moved from Snoqualmie, Washington in August 1967 to attend St. Martin’s College, became a resident fireman (Volunteer) for the Lacey Fire Department, and continued as a volunteer for a total of 12 plus years. He graduated with a degree in accounting from St. Martin’s in 1971, and then went to work for the city of Lacey in 1970 and worked there for over 41 years. Tim has also volunteered for the Supervisory Committee for Twin Star Credit Union and Crime Stopper’s both for over 15 years. He is married to Terry, his wife of 53+ years, and together they have two children with 7 grand children.

Denise (Fuchs) Keegan

Co-SecretaryDenise moved to Lacey in 1977 to complete her final years of undergraduate education at St. Martin’s University. Lacey Mayor Karen Fraser hired Denise in 1978 to begin gathering research about Lacey’s history—to collect oral histories and to help establish a city historical program. In that role, Denise spent hundreds of hours visiting with older residents – collecting oral history recordings, photos, and other historic materials for the city. She served on the first Lacey Historical Society Board and helped start the Lacey Historic Commission – serving as their Chair for several years. She worked closely with Shirley Dziedzic on the annual Historical Society’s tree and plant dedication programs. Denise earned her master’s degree in public administration from The Evergreen State College in 1997. Denise and her husband, Chris, have three grown children all of whom live nearby. Denise has stayed very active in community activities – most recently serving as the 2021 – 2022 Tumwater Rotary President.

Margie (Worden) Wyllie

Margie’s grandparents came from Tennessee to Lacey around 1910 to join other relatives. Her Grandfather worked in the Union Mill, and her Grandmother cooked and cleaned in the Union Mills Hotel and Union Mills office in the same building. Margie moved with her sister Janis (Worden) Chastain from Tumwater to Union Mills in 1955 to join others in the “family compound” that included her Grandmother as well as aunts, uncles and cousins. Margie graduated from NTHS, after having ridden to school with the same bus driver, Dean Huntamer, from first grade until then! After graduation she traveled some, now back “home” and married to Gordon Wyllie. She has one son, Air Force Major Larry Dicks, specializing in Intelligence, who resides in Virginia.

Peggy McHugo

Peggy was born in Sunnyside, WA in 1937 and moved to Littlerock, WA before she turned one. Her family moved to Olympia in 1943, where she attended Washington School before graduating from Olympia High in 1955. She met her future husband, Denny while attending Western Washington College, and were married in 1959. We lived in Olympia for just 1 year before moving to Lacey on Alpha St (by the golf course), where they stayed until 1975 and then moved another part of Lacey, where she still resides. Peggy and Denny were involved in several community service organizations, including the Lacey Historical Society, where Denny served as a Trustee for a few years). He retired after 35 years of teaching in 1994, and I retired in 1995 from US West (37yrs). Together they had 3 daughters (2 living in Federal Way and one in Burien), and 3 grandchildren. When I first heard about the situation with the Lacey Historical Society I was interested in what the future plans might be – so maybe I was thinking of my husband, Denny.

John Turner

was born to Henry W. and Evelyn Turner. They purchased the Black Cat Nursery on Pacific Avenue in Lacey in 1945. Born and raised in the Lacey area, John began his public safety career in 1966 as a resident firefighter. After incorporation in 1966, the city formed a new police department and asked him to help recruit nine others for a volunteer police cadet program. John continued to pursue his police training, first at St. Martin’s, and then at WSU, where he graduated in 1971. Following graduation, John returned to Lacey and began a 14-year career with the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office. In 1985, he moved to Snohomish County to serve as Police Chief in three cities, as well as stints with the federal Homeland Security Department and Washington State’s Office of the Attorney General. In 2020, he returned to Lacey with his wife, Margo, of 50 years. They have one daughter, Jennifer. John has served four governors on five boards and commissions, most notably as Chair of the Governor’s Clemency and Pardons Board. John has is also past president of the North Thurston Kiwanis Club, and past chair of the Olympia area Salvation Army.

Monte Pascual

was born and raised in the Philippines. He immigrated to the US in December 1984. A month later, he enlisted in the US Army. He is a Desert Storm veteran and also served in the Washington Air National Guard. He first visited Lacey in 1999 when his best friend moved here. He retired from the Federal Government as a computer specialist in January 2020. Monte’s hobbies include marathon running. He is currently ranked number one in Washington State with 782 marathons or longer. His motto is every run begins with a single step. Monte was asked to serve as a Lacey Historical Society Trustee in June of 2023. He and his wife Kendra are retired and live in Lacey.

Larry Ganders

Larry came to Lacey in 1986 as the Western Washington Bureau chief for the Tri-City Herald and McClatchy Newspapers based at the state capitol in Olympia. He continued to be located here for 28 more years as an assistant to the WSU President for Government Relations, serving under Presidents Sam Smith, Lane Rawlins, and the late Elson Floyd. He left WSU in 2015 after supervising a statewide professional journalism internship program and working on a radio history museum for the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. He coordinated a UW-WSU capitol intern program in 2023 for the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association. Before retirement in 2019, Larry was a sales specialist in appliances and millworks for Lacey Lowe’s. He is a board member and vice president of Olympia-Lacey Centennial Station, the only all-volunteer station in the U.S. that has operated for 30 consecutive years. He headed a project to locate, preserve and display vintage photographs of Thurston County train stations. Since childhood, he has been an O-Gauge Model Train collector and operator (GandersTrains.Com). He also compiled extensive family history web pages including SwissFamilyFraunfelder.Com. He is married to Robin Ganders, who was admissions director for Providence Mother Joseph for 28 years.

Cheryl Malkmus

originally from Vancouver, WA, moved to Lacey in 1970, after earning her BA degree in Elementary Education from Western Washington State College. She taught first grade for 40 years in Lacey elementary schools before retiring in 2011. Many years were spent with the Lacey Friends of the Library before connecting with the Historical Society in late 2023. She then initiated an effort to obtain official recognition of the street in Lacey named in 1950 after her good neighbor, Selma. Her participation in several meetings of the Historical Society Board of Trustees, as well as the city’s Historic Commission made her uniquely qualified to fill a vacancy on the Board in early 2024

Nancy (Cunningham) Miller

Nancy’s grandparents, Neal and Lillie Cunningham, and their 3 sons arrived in Lacey (Union Mills) first in the late 1920s for a few years, and then permanently in 1936 after following most of Lillie’s (Tubbs) family to the area from Kansas. Nancy was born and raised in Lacey, attended North Thurston schools (Old Lacey, Mt. View, Lydia Hawk, Chinook and NTHS.) She lived in Fairbanks, AK in the 70s, returned to Lacey for 10 years, spent 13 years in the Houston area before returning to Lacey for good in 2002. Her father was one of the founding members of what is now Lacey Fire District #3, and her mother was instrumental in bringing a library to Lacey, now part of the Timberland system. Nancy’s parents both actively campaigned to incorporate Lacey, and also served in various capacities with LHS. Nancy has spent her adult life in accounting, working many years with local, regional and international accounting firms, specializing in small to medium Not For Profit organizations. An accurate record of Lacey’s history is very important to her.

John Dziedzic

moved to Lacey with his parents, Gene and Shirley, and his six brothers and sisters, on Labor Day 1960. His mother was a long-time Trustee and President of the Lacey Historical Society. John was a member of the last graduating class from the Old Lacey Grade School, and attended Chinook and NTHS. After receiving a degree from WSU, he worked for the Washington State Employees Credit Union and Secretary of State Ralph Munro. After law school, he was a clerk for Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander, an Assistant Attorney General, a legal counsel for a Senate standing committee, and a hearings officer for the Department of Licensing. He and his wife, Shelley, are currently retired and live in Tumwater.

Paul Webb

Paul was born at St. Peter’s hospital in Olympia, Washington, and graduated from North Thurston High School. His distinguished 45-year fire services career in western Washington included 38 years with the Lakewood Fire Department. He served two years as president of the Pierce County Fire Chiefs Association, and as president of the Clover Park Rotary Club where he remains an active member. He presently serves on the Board of the Sonrise Church of God, in Olympia

Judy Wilson

arrived in the Lacey area with her 2 sons in 1975. A building boom was underway. My first job was Providence St. Peter’s as a registered nurse. Within a year I began a career in real estate. I joined the League of Women Voters, was active in the Lacey Chamber of Commerce and the Economic Development Council, a friend and I purchased a Century 21 franchise and opened Century 21 Hometown Realty in Lacey. As a business owner I became more aware of the impact of government decisions on individuals. That interest led to my running for office. I served 8 years as a Thurston County Commissioner. Later, a 4 year term on the North Thurston School Board; finally 9 years on Lacey Fire District 3 Board. I’ve had the opportunity to make a difference in how we grow as a community. After 48 years, I am proud to say Lacey is my home.

Susan Hartman

Emeritus Trustee Susan Hartman was born in Olympia at the original St. Peter’s Hospital on the west side of town in 1949. Her family moved to Tumwater in 1962 where she graduated from Tumwater High School in 1967. Her mother came to the United States in 1945 from Newry, County Down, in Northern Ireland, when Susan’s grandmother and 3 of her mother’s siblings sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in the U.S. Gibbons, to the United States and traveled by train across country after her mother married a U.S. Army officer whose home town was Olympia. Susan’s mother eventually married her father who was born in the Lacey area, and was a member of the Nisqually Indian Nation who attended the local Lacey school system.

She went onto attend Central Washington State College in Ellensburg, and graduated from WSU and TESC with degrees in Gallery Management, and the Fine Arts. She has an adopted granddaughter of Navajo descent who graduated with honors in 2023, who received a scholarship and will attend college this fall.

For the past 14 years, since 2009, she was a member of the Lacey Historical Society Board of Trustees, as well as the LHS Board of Trustees Secretary from 2017 to 2023. She was also the LHS Newsletter Editor for the past seven years. Between 1987 and 2016, she was employed as a Community Service Program Manager with the Dept. of Social and Health Services, Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. As a retirement gift, she took a dream road trip and drove across country to the southwest to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she spent two exciting weeks at the International Native American Arts & Crafts Festival. For 12 years, she traveled up and down the west coast and British Columbia attending Native American powwows and making her own dance regalia and beaded jewelry. She was an active member of the Olympia Art League where for 3 years she served as the coordinator for the art league’s Annual Summer Art Show. She worked as a volunteer art gallery coordinator with South Puget Sound Community College and as volunteer stage manager for Harlequin Productions (theatrical company) in Olympia and the Washington Center for the Performing Arts also in Olympia. She has spent 30 years researching her family tree, and was a member of the Olympia Genealogy Association.