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2007 Volunteers of the Year
This year, 330 active volunteers logged 40,000 hours at Tohono Chul Park.

Sally Clement

Sally Clement, former geologist with the University of Arizona, was recently profiled in the Desert Corner Journal (Spring/Summer 2007) for her work helping to reform the “geophobes” amongst the Park’s docents. A docent herself since 2005, Clement has not only taken on the geology class in our docent training program but has helped design our popular Rocks and Ruins Eco-station and is working on updated interpretive signage for the Geology Wall.

Betty Kroell and Ione Smith

Betty Kroell and Ione Smith are Reception Committee co-chairs and office volunteers extraordinaire. These two are the kind of people that make your day. Every Friday morning, Betty donates her time and energy to the Park’s administration office and every Friday afternoon, Ione does the same. Their warm personalities and positive attitudes make them standout human beings and wonderful volunteers.
Ione has been a great help setting up files for the new year. She did the filing for 2 months straight. We write a lot of checks each month, and it’s great to know we could count on her to help. Ione is the only afternoon volunteer who stays until 5:00.
Ione does a great job in trying to keep things organized, clean and looking great. One day she came in the office with a large number of freshly washed and ironed aprons just so the Reception Committee would present a great image. Ione looks on all her duties with the same attention to detail.
Betty is the go-to person when it comes to mailing, sorting and stuffing the membership mailings. It is not an easy job considering there are singles, individuals, senior couples, family duals, bob cats...... each level getting a different variety of passes and goodies. Betty was helpful during the transition of the office staff. She was steady in her support and guidance. She kept her sense of humor and tried her best to keep us all moving in the right direction.

Mary Lee Kopen

Mary Lee Kopen, best known for her portrayal of Coyote in the Desert Players’ most recent production “Them Bones” at last month’s Park After Dark, is actually a reporter by profession. Also joining the Park’s docent corps in 2005, Kopen has wholeheartedly embraced the Park and its programs, becoming a sought after tour guide, school outreach presenter and this fall the creative force behind set design and costumes for the Desert Home Theatre, donating over 600 hours this year alone!

Bob Willkom

Bob Willkom has been instrumental in organizing the propagation area. He has helped increase the propagation growing area by building new benches. He labeled the benches improving the efficiency for locating plants and assigning plant maintenance. He installed an automatic watering system helping to conserve water and saving several hundred volunteer hours this year.