Museum Staff
Bob Neubauer
Volunteer Admissions Desk Host
& Docent
Vexten Van Reed
Volunteer Admissions Desk Host
Ninestar Youth Employment Services Program Participant
The Homer Society of Natural History, Inc. Board of Directors | 2024
Milli Martin has lived in Homer since 1980 and has served on the boards of various institutions in Homer, including KPBSD, KBBI, KPC, and POPS. She served on the Assembly from 2000 to 2009 and is a volunteer at the Homer Chamber of Commerce, where she especially enjoys interacting with German guests, as German is her second language.
Jennifer Bartolowits bio coming soon.
Clark Fair, a former journalist and high school English teacher, is a lifelong Alaskan who has lived for more than 60 years on the Kenai Peninsula, raising his two children there. Clark’s parents homesteaded in the Soldotna/Sterling area, along the middle Kenai River, and he still owns a sizable portion of the original homestead. He also has a long-standing interest in peninsula history and culture. Since retiring from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District in 2008, he has been a freelance writer, researcher and photographer, and has written hundreds of history-related articles for magazines and peninsula newspapers. He has also contributed to two history books, Snapshots at Statehood, and Keeping the Fire Burning: A 50-Year History of Kenai Peninsula College, and is working to publish a third, A Vanishing Past: Historic Cabins of the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. An avid hiker, Clark has explored many of the mountains and valleys of the Kenai, and he gets special joy from discovering ties to tales from the peninsula’s colorful past.
Tim Hatfield was born and raised in Homer, Alaska. He graduated from Homer High School in 1996 and his family homesteaded in the Homer area. He has collected items with local historical significance throughout most of his life, and his avid interest in Alaskan history led him to create and manage the Kenai Peninsula History group on Facebook.
Mel Strydom is married to Nadya Klingel and has twin boys, Wynand and Willem, who are both outside now at university. He’s been in Homer since 1995 and owned and operated the Grog Shop and various other liquor stores in town from 2005 through 2022. Strydom grew up in the greater Los Angeles area and graduated from Cal State University, Northridge in 1983 with a bachelors degree in finance. He previously served on the HSNH Board of Directors when Heather Beggs was the Executive Director. He is also currently a board member for KBBI and Cook Inletkeeper.
Savanna is a born-and-raised Homerite and hard-core museum nerd. As a former Pratt Collections Manager, she would love to talk with you about her favorite museum stories. She holds a master’s degree in Arts Management, a graduate certificate in Museum Studies and served on the Homer City Planning and Zoning Commission for three years.
Kris Holderied bio coming soon.
Sue Fallon bio coming soon.