Elder Speak 2024

Donations welcome

JOURNEY TO WISDOM

el·​der

one having authority by virtue of age and experience

Elder Speak is a guided journey that honors, affirms, and brings forth the essential untapped wisdom of our Elders.

As this latent wisdom is brought forward it benefits not only the elder, but their families and the entire community.

The heartfelt reflections that the Elders offer connects us to our shared human experience.

Through Elder Speak we gain insight on how to navigate tough times, how to cherish the easy times and how to hold gratitude for it all.

Elder Speak teaches us the meaning of resilience.

Our Elders, by exploring their own lives and sharing their life experience with us, honor us with their wisdom, and challenge us to explore our own wisdom and honor our own lives. 

JOURNEY TO WISDOM

Meet The Elders 2024

Eliot Scull     Margaret Neighbors     Dave Spies     Betsy Bartholomew

Eliot Scull

I was born in   Houston TX   Aug 16, 1941 to David and Patricia Scull. We lived awhile in Laredo, Texas where my father farmed. During WWII while my father served in the military, I lived with my mother in Philadelphia, PA. My sister was born there; when my father returned, we moved to Easton, Maryland where I lived until attending boarding school at St Paul’s School in New Hampshire. Even though I struggled at first with attending school there, it ended up being a good experience. I graduated from Harvard University, attended McGill University Medical and then joined the Navy and became a US Navy Flight surgeon for 3 years. Following the Navy I attended Ophthalmology School in BC and then began practicing in Wenatchee at the Eye and Ear Clinic from 1975-1996. In between all the schooling, I took many adventures in the outdoors, learned to fly, and hiked often. In my first year of college I volunteered two months in Liberia where I became inspired to be a physician.

It was in Seattle that I met my wife, Tina. We have 2 children, Grant and Jennifer, and four grandchildren, Samantha, Sophia, Eliot, and Owen. After early retirement in 1996, I devoted my time to being a community volunteer and doing the many activities Tina and I love doing. My volunteer time has been with the Nature Conservancy WA chapter, Wash state parks Commissioner, Chelan Douglas Land Trust   founder and board president, San Juan Preservation Trust  Trustee, and presently, as a Wenatchee Valley Museum Trustee.

Margaret Neighbors

I was born in Bremerton, Washington on May 11, 1946 and grew up on the family farm near Port Orchard, Washington with five siblings, cats, dogs, cows, and chickens.  After graduating high school, I attended Olympic College and the University of Washington and began a career in Data Systems at Pacific Northwest Bell. In 1969 I moved to San Francisco to work for California Blue Shield where I met and married my first husband, Frank Bergin, with whom I had two children.

In 1974 my family returned to Washington. After 14 years my marriage ended. In 1985 I married my soul mate, Lyle Neighbors. Lyle moved to Leavenworth in 1996 to build our dream retirement home. I followed him to Leavenworth when my daughter graduated high school in 1997. Lyle and I jumped into the volunteer world with Habitat for Humanity and Empty Bowls.  In 2003 Lyle died from pancreatic cancer. I continue to volunteer and have served on the Leavenworth City Council and the Upper Valley Historical Society Board and with my church.

I’m a passionate quilter and dote on my grandchildren. Faith, family, and community are my priorities.

Dave Spies

  I was born the fourth of six children in 1947 at the old Deaconess Hospital in Wenatchee, shortly after my mother and father and three older siblings arrived in Cashmere on a train from St. Paul Minnesota. My father found employment at the local sawmill where he worked until his passing when I was 12 years old. My mother was a homemaker, taking care of 6 children, including one who was born with cerebral palsy. I grew up in the Cashmere School system, graduating in 1965.  I graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a BA in Psychology in 1969. I attended Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary for 6 months in Berkley California.

I returned to Washington State in 1970 and attended Central Washington State University where I received a degree in Early Childhood Education. I began my teaching career in 1972 at Grant Elementary in the East Wenatchee where I taught third and fourth grades until 1976 when Mary Ann, my wife and a kindergarten teacher, were invited to teach in Stavanger, Norway for two years. In 1978 we returned home with our first daughter (We were blessed with a twin boy and girl in 1980). I worked in the Benton City School District for 6 months and then returned in the fall of 1978 to begin teaching just about every subject at Sterling Middle School for 13 years. After taking librarian certification classes at Eastern Washington University, I became a librarian for the next 15 years at Sterling; and set up the new Clovis Point Middle School library until 2007 when I semi-retired.
 I was involved in the Olympics of the Mind / Odyssey of the Mind / Imagination Destination youth competitive problem-solving programs from 1981-2015. For 12 years I also worked with the Pacific Science Center offering youth science workshops/summer camps. I was also an environmental education workshop facilitator with Project Learning Tree for many years.
  From 1966 to 1974, I was fortunate to be part of the original Entiat Hotshot wildland firefighter crew during my college years and my first four years of teaching. With that experience and my educational background, I have helped run Columbia Breaks Fire Interpretive Center for 20 years, planning and supervising school visits to the site.
My passions are hiking, searching for wisdom in books, traveling to just about anywhere, and spending time with my wife, daughters, son, and four grandchildren.

Betsy Bartholomew

I was born in 1932 in Baltimore, Maryland. Because of my father’s work, my family lived in Canada, but my mother returned to Baltimore for my birth so that I would be an American citizen like them. Quebec City was my home for my first 6 years. We then moved north of Quebec to the company town, Kenogami, an English community within a French community. Even our school was a company school.

After attending boarding school in Toronto for 2 years, I then studied at the University of New Brunswick for 2 years, then transferred to McGill in Montreal. After college, I worked in Montreal. In 1957 I married and over time had 4 children. We travelled to many cities and countries for my husband’s work, even living in Brazil for 2 years. We finally settled in California. There I volunteered in Newport Beach for the Youth Problem Center in Orange County, was on the board of a mother/daughter organization of the YMCA for 6 years. From there I moved to Pinyon Crest Coachella Valley in the California desert.

I took many children by bus to see the Orange County Philharmonic.

I met my present partner 12 years after the dissolution of my marriage; we eventually moved to Leavenworth, WA and have been together 30 years. It is here that three of my children and their children live. The first volunteer job I got when I arrived was with the Leavenworth Echo newspaper.

I credit the 12 step programs available to me throughout my life for supporting me.

Thank you to our Sponsors:
Icicle Creek Center for the Arts, Wenatchee Valley Museum, Cashmere Valley Bank, Wenatchee Valley Technical Center, Dan’s Food Market, Eagle Creek Winery and Wenatchee Valley Dispute Resolution Center