Board of TRustees
Guy Garnsey
President
Guy is a graduate of Cornell University and a retired professional engineer. He is a board member of Southern Cayuga Instant Aid and past board member of Seward House Museum and Southern Cayuga School District. He is chairman of the Facilities Committee and has led the Opendore restoration project for the past 5 years.
Andy Simkin
Trustee
Andy served a term on the HSSM board and was Treasurer from 2014-2017, then rejoined the board in 2018, serving again as Treasurer. He has been an active volunteer on the Opendore Project. Andy and his wife, Bess, own and manage the Phoenix Building in Auburn, where Andy also practices law. He retired in 2011 after a 25-year career as a Foreign Service officer, including 10 years in Washington DC and 15 years at U.S. embassies and consulates overseas, culminating in service as Consul General of the United States in Chennai, India. Andy serves also on the Facilities committee.
Jackie Dickinson
Treasurer
Jackie Dickinson, originally from Ithaca, NY; earned a B.A. in Economics and Art History from Wells College. She is an artist and small business owner at Dinosaur Dry Goods in Poplar Ridge; Executive Director of Southern Cayuga Instant Aid; and firefighter with Poplar Ridge Fire Company. Work history includes arts management, IT management and higher education fundraising.
Karen Speck
Trustee
Karen is a graduate of Boston University and Goddard College. A long-time resident of Southern Cayuga, she is a retired teacher who taught over 30 years in elementary and special education. Karen is past co-chairperson for the United Way of Cayuga County and continues to work with current chairpersons.
KIRSTEN GOSCH
Vice President
Kirsten Gosch is the Executive Director of the Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn, and also serves as the Auburn City Historian. She holds a Masters in Museum Studies from Syracuse University and a Bachelors Degree in Art History from Penn State University. A Pennsylvania native, Kirsten has lived and worked in Syracuse and Cayuga County for the last ten years. In addition to her service on the HSSM Board, she is the Chair of Auburn’s Historic and Cultural Sites Commission and serves on the Cayuga County Convention and Visitors Bureau Board.
WILLIAM SCHMITT
Trustee
Bill is recently retired from GoFluent, where he mentored European and Asian business people in English for the past 15 years. Before that, he was involved in Sales for many years. He has a BS degree in Counseling and Religious Studies from Empire State University. He has served in the past on the board of SAVAR. He is an avid reader in History, Politics, Religion and Human Behavior. His four grandkids are currently keeping him busy.
Larry Bell
Historian/Secretary
Larry, a native of Broome County, was a theater major at Baldwin-Wallace College. He studied biblical historical criticism at Gordon-Conwell Seminary and pastored churches in Cayuga County for 23 years. While pastoring, he studied archaeology and ancient history at Cornell, and participated in a dig at tel Zeitah in Israel. Since retirement, he has indulged his passion for family history by tracking down cousins in Poland, Ukraine, and Romania, and publishing historical articles in FamilySearch, Rodziny, and the Bukovina Journal. He chairs the HSSM Fundraising Committee and is active in the Opendore restoration effort, having previously worked as a historic restoration carpenter in Broome County.
LORRIE BUTCHER
Trustee
Lorrie is a retired Physical Education teacher and coach from the Auburn School District, having earned her undergraduate and masters degrees at SUNY Cortland. While teaching, she worked extensively with student teachers, on curriculum and on presentations by staff at state conferences. In retirement, her interests are her animals, biking and singing and being co-owner of Eclectic Selections, a small business specializing in accessorizing with hand-crafted items. She has been a volunteer in the Opendore restoration project and while on the board, will be serving on the facilities committee and the collections committee.
Marilyn Post
Trustee
Marilyn is a native of Scipio where nearly all her ancestors have lived since the post Revolutionary period. She graduated from Wells College, then lived and worked in Syracuse for thirty years as a supervising counselor at Hillbrook Detention Facility. She has taken many classes in art and special education at Syracuse University. She now lives in her grandparents’ house in Scipio and teaches art at Peachtown. She is a long time docent at Everson Museum, and is Program Committee Chair and on the HSSM Facilities Committee, and is active in the Opendore restoration project.