Meet The People Who Make It All Happen
The hardworking volunteers at the Historical Society of Cecil County are responsible for everything from doing research to maintaining the collections to upkeep of the facility. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, we’d love to have you! Please contact us here.
Paula Newton
Paula is the current President of the HSCC and a lifelong resident of Cecil County, Maryland. She’s a history enthusiast, especially the Civil War era and enjoys antiquing, cooking and reading. When she’s not helping run the Historical Society or her family business (Goodchild, Inc.), Paula can sometimes be found at auto events, showing the 1937 Chevrolet street rod she co-owns with her husband.
Charles Dolor
Charles resides in Fair Hill Maryland where he lives in a 1855 farm house with his wife Lisa. He has been helping out with different jobs at the HSCC for over 10 years and now serves on the board. Chuck is a facilities manager at W.L. Gore & Assoc. where he has worked in various roles for the last 39 years. He is also the owner of Integrity Electric. When not working he can be found traveling with Lisa or running 50, 62 and 100 mile ultra endurance trail races all over the country.
Anne Fazio
Anne is a resident of Port Deposit, Maryland, and had previously been the Clerk/Treasurer for the town of North East. Anne now brings her experience to the HSCC as a researcher and library volunteer. Her other interests include gardening, traveling and helping to preserve history.
Travis Humiston
Originally from Waterbury Connecticut, Travis has been a resident of Maryland since 2004. He initially became involved with the HSCC when researching the history of his 150-year-old farmhouse, and now serves on the board as a trustee, as well as appearing in the Historical Society’s column in the Cecil Whig. Travis is a mechanical engineer and enjoys working on his historic home, gardening and cycling with his family on the weekends.
Darlene McCall
A combination of deep roots in Cecil County and a love of history moves Darlene to volunteer at the HSCC as a researcher. She began her career as a Mechanical Engineer for Aberdeen Proving Ground (the only female gunner on post!), then moved into teaching elementary education and finally worked as a Title Searcher for nearly 25 years. Darlene still gets a thrill from helping others discover facts about their family or interests through her research.
Brian McCandless
Brian is a scientist at the University of Delaware and resident of Elkton, MD. As Co-curator of collections with a specialty in colonial-era and indigenous peoples’ artifacts, he finds plenty of opportunity to share what he’s learned with others who share his love of history. When not volunteering at the HSCC, Brian enjoys playing music (especially Scottish and Irish traditional songs) and sailing.
Beth Moore
Beth’s family roots in Cecil County go back to the 1600’s – little wonder why she’s always been interested in local history. Originally from Elkton but now a resident of Chesapeake City, Beth taught elementary school for 30 years and is now an instructor at the Department of Social Services and a realtor. In addition to those responsibilities, she also finds time to be the Vice President, Program Director and Recording Secretary for the HSCC.
Lisa McKeown Dolor
Lisa began volunteering at the HSCC in 1991 to help expand the hours of operation but over time has expanded her role to installing rotating exhibits, which is among her favorite tasks at the Society. She was born and raised in Cecil County and currently lives in Fair Hill where she has a studio and teaches children art. Lisa is an artist and also has interests in genealogy, traveling, knitting and weaving.
Mike Dixon
Mike’s interest in local history goes way back to when he was a teenager and first volunteered at the Historical Society. His love of history eventually became his career as a college professor, writer and public historian. For decades, Mike has worked to encourage the public interest and participation in preserving the past and continues to do so today. Mike has been interviewed by Public Radio stations, The Wall Street Journal, National Geographic and Southern Living about his work.
Eric F. Mease
Eric volunteers at the HSCC as a way of giving back to the institution that was so helpful to him as he wrote his Master’s Thesis about African Americans from Cecil County who fought in the Civil War. Eric has been a journalist, paralegal, court reporter, history lecturer and an adjunct professor of history and now lends his expertise and knowledge as a board member to the HSCC.
Carol Donache
A native from Rising Sun, Carol lends her professional librarian chops to the Historical Society on a regular basis. She had a career at the Cecil College but retired to embark on a second career in volunteerism. Because of her lifelong interest in history and genealogy, the HSCC was a natural fit. When not cataloguing books, organizing files, materials, or other resources, Carol enjoys reading, going to wineries and is a soccer fan.
Jo Ann Gardner
Originally from Wilmington DE but with deep roots in Cecil County, Jo Ann was a research associate at W.L. Gore. She started volunteering at the Society to “…finally use my degree in history…”. Her area of expertise is in genealogy and helps out the HSCC by doing research, fund raising and First Friday food.
Wanda Owens
Wanda has been a Cecil County resident since she was 4 years of age. She is a nurse by trade and has worked for 35 years mostly in Cecil County. Wanda discovered that she was eligible for DAR membership and obtained the information for her application by visiting the Cecil County Historical Society along with historical societies and genealogy rooms in North Carolina and Virginia. She is a member of the local DAR Head of Elk Chapter. She is interested in preservation and historical education. Wanda homeschooled her children and found that she loves educating children and adults about local history during the Revolutionary War era, the Constitution of the United States and the American Flag. She accomplishes this by performing with the Cecil County Heritage Troupe. Wanda has also portrayed characters in all of our historic cemetery walks.
Alan Gardner
Alan has brought his expertise in IT and computer networking to the HSCC and volunteers doing IT support and the digitization of newspapers from microfilm. When not helping out around the Society, Alan can be found watching art house movies, listening to music, reading philosophy or cycling.
Rusty Eder
A native of Elkton, Rusty now lives in Conowingo, MD, where he is a history teacher at West Nottingham Academy, also directing the plays for the Nottingham Players and serving as Academy Historian. Rusty is serving on the Board of Trustees when he’s not reading, enjoying music, golf, or sharing time with friends and family.
Jeffrey Ricketts
Jeffrey Ricketts is a resident of Calvert. He has had a great interest in history, particularly that of Cecil County since he was 9 years old. He is the owner of East Nottingham Antiques and specializes in 18th and 19th century American decorative arts. He is also a board member of the Cecil Historical Trust, and has also been a guest speaker at Colonial Williamsburg. He is the promoter of the “From the Farmhouse Antique Show” that occurs twice a year in Elkton. When he is not busy running his business, his free time goes to restoring “Mullen’s Folly”, an 18th century log house located in Calvert and uncovering all of the stories tied to it and its inhabitants.
Ray Jefferson
Ray is a graduate of Elkton High School. He attended Cecil College and UMBC. Ray has been a history buff since elementary school and does lots of research on Ancestry. He is the caretaker of Bohemia Manor Cemetery. Ray is also the administrator of the George Washington Carver School of Cecil County, Maryland and Black Culture & History of Cecil County, Maryland Facebook pages. He is currently working with award-winning filmmaker Joe Piner on a documentary about the George Washington Carver School. He regularly researches these topics in our research library, using our digital archives and our old bound newspapers.