PEOPLE

PRESIDENT

My husband James and I have owned property in Cascabel since 2006.  I greatly value the natural resources of this section of the San Pedro Valley and wish to see them conserved for the benefit of all inhabitants of the area  As a geochemist with interests in water science, I have been able to  contribute  research that I hope will increase awareness of the need for conservation of water resources in the San Pedro Valley.

TREASURER / SECRETARY

As CCA’s treasurer, I am in charge of the numbers. I first came to Arizona 25 years ago as a very young Physics postdoc and was immediately drawn to the desert, like a Déjà vu. I’ve lived basically everywhere, but Southern Arizona is my home, and I want others to be able to experience this place with the same awe I felt back then.

DIRECTOR

For more than 50 years I’ve had a passion for the desert southwest. My interests include desert-adapted living, exploration of this amazing part of the world and the conservation of our remaining wildlands. Since moving to Cascabel in 1997, CCA has been a primary outlet for those concerns and interests. I’ve been involved in each of CCA’s program areas and have served on the board for the past 20 years.

DIRECTOR

I moved to Cascabel in the late 90’s and quickly found a home in CCA for my interests in conservation and hospitality. This unique combination that CCA represents has elicited many hours of volunteering throughout those 20+ years, and service on the Board of Directors since 2013. I also co-chair the Conservation Committee.

DIRECTOR

When I moved to Cascabel in 1999 I became close neighbors to CCA (CHA at the time). Over the next few years as I came to understand the organizations commitment to conservation and contemplation, I became more involved; first with the community garden then as a board member in 2010. It’s been rewarding working with this thriving organization and supporting and learning from its many programs.  

Director

DIRECTOR

Gail is our most recent board member and a beloved lead at the Community Garden. More coming soon from her...

Emeritus Director

Daniel Baker was an initiator, along with Jim Corbett, of the idea to create a space for contemplation in desert wildlands. He was a founding member of the Cascabel Hermitage Association,and has had an outsize role in CCA’s 25-year history. His first love was the Hermitage Program, which he led until 2017, and he also helped shape the Conservation Program. Thank you, Daniel for your extraordinary contributions to CCA, in philosophical underpinnings, labor, and resources.

Emeritus Director

Karen McKelvey has served on the board, primarily as Vice President, for 17 years. She has been an active gardener and will continue on as a steadfast member of the Hermitage Committee. She has been our behind-the-scenes editor, and the face of CCA at the Community Fair for the past decade. Thank you, Karen, for your words of wisdom, poetic voice, and for frequently helping us get the wording just right.

Emeritus Director

Pat was part of the founding team that brought CCA into being. Pat and Jim Corbett “retired” to Cascabel after a varied career and years of leadership in the Tucson sanctuary movement. In collaboration with members of the Saguaro-Juniper Corporation they started a small ranching operation. When a militia group threatened it, they became leaders in opposition and found donors to rescue the land, becoming in the process founding members of the present CCA. When Jim passed in 2001, Pat took his place on the board and served as an active member until 2012.

Emeritus Director

Mary Lou, and her husband Francis Leitner, were the donors whose major gift was foundational to CCA. She and Francis also participated in the work party building the first hermitage, the Leitner-Gonzales strawbale.  Francis passed away in 1999,  but Mary Lou remained active on the board for many years, supporting and giving voice to their Dream of the Earth.