Board of Trustees
Linda O'Neill
Linda has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University, has received graduate degrees from both New York University and Columbia University. She has been affiliated with The New York Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University for many years. In 1985 she co-founded the National Pediatric Cardiology Nurses Association. Her passion about helping children and families has led her to serve on a number of Boards including Volunteers of America and the New York Foundling, as well as the Regents at Georgetown University.
Linda and her husband Tim are the trustees of the Linda and Timothy O'Neill Foundation, which supports a number of health and educational institutions. Most recently they have founded an Institute for Global and National Health in Washington D.C. which will influence policy at all levels. Their goal is to improve the understanding about how the law affects the prevention of disease and injury, thereby stimulating fresh, nonpartisan proposals for health promotion and disease prevention.
Her love of the environment, and her appreciation of the beauty of Goat Island Light has led her to serve as a KCT Trustee.
Bob King
Bob King loves Kennebunkport. It has been an important part of his life, since birth, and is the place he found his wife, Dottie, over fifty years ago. Bob is a semi-retired investment manager and is a founding Trustee of Thrive Foundation for Youth. Thrive is passionate about helping young people thrive. Their goals are to look at the nature of thriving: what's worth strengthening in youth, what tools are available to track and support conditions of thriving, and who's out there for young people. Their ultimate goal is this: that more youth live up to their potential and move on track towards a hopeful future.
Jestena Boughton
As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and being a Master of Landscape Architecture, Jestena has served as a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Ball State University. In 1998 she was a team leader at the Tashkent Peace Park in Uzbekistan, USSR. She is the past president of the Washington and Boston chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects. As the third generation owner of the Colony Hotel in Kennebunkport and the Colony Hotel & Cabana Club in Delray Beach, Florida, both National Trust Historic Hotels of America, Jestena has distinguished herself in the greening of her businesses. "Green" Hotels are environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager to institute programs that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste in order to help protect ourearth. Jestena has established the standard for eco-friendly and pet-friendly hotels for the benefit of her guests, her employees and her community.
Cecil Benson Jr.
Ken Raynor
Ken, a golf professional, is a teaching specialist, known for his in depth understanding of the golf swing and for his ability to communicate in simple terms. He is a Titleist consultant, conducting Custom Fitting Seminars for P.G.A. professionals nation-wide. He is active in P.G.A. teaching seminars and summits held throughout the country. In 2003 he was named the New England P.G.A. Professional of the Year. In 2005 he was inducted into the Maine Golf Hall of Fame. Ken has served on a variety of non-profit organizations and his love of the outdoors and his community has made him a valuable member of the KCT.
Ed Hutchins
Rich Woodman
As the owner of the Schooner Eleanor, Rich has been offering sailing trips from Kennebunkport since 1987. He has several years experience on 100' schooners working the passenger trade on the New England coast and also crewed on a Norwegian square rigger. He has a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Master's License.
His grandfather, Bernie Warner, had a shipyard on the Kennebunk River in the early 1900s, where he built large schooners and commercial fishing boats.
Rich carries on the tradition by building custom wooden boats in the off-season. He has also taught wooden boat construction at the Landing School of Boatbuilding and Design in Arundel and has enjoyedtelling area school children, includingthose in our "Trust in our Children" program,about our community's amazing age of sail.
Rebecca Bradbury
As the daughter of Tom and Shirley Bradbury, Rebecca grew up with the Trust and a love of community. She is a Phi Beta Kappa and Summa cum laude graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts. She works at the Saco-Biddeford Savings Bank.
Mary Susan Leahy
Susan Leahy started live on Okracoke Island in North Carolina. She later lived in Nashville, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Vienna, Austria; Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Boston, Massachusetts, before her college years at Mt. Holyoke. After a brief stint working for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington D.C., she attended law school at Boston University, receiving her J. D. in 1970.
As a young woman, Susan enjoyed music, playing both the piano and the violin, including with the Albuquerque and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and various “pick up” groups during college. She still loves music and picks up her violin from time to time, threatening to resume violin lessons when time permits.
Originally a tennis player, she now plays golf at both Cape Arundel and Webhannet Golf Clubs. She also struggles each year to win a trophy (for her age group) at the Goose Rocks Beach Association 4th of July Road Race. She and Chuck, have a Springer spaniel, Amelia, and a standard poodle, Nicole. Susan is often seen with the beasts at Goose Rocks Beach, obeying all leash and other dog-related laws.
Moving to New Hampshire in 1970, Susan served as a law clerk for NH Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Kenison. She decided to stay in New Hampshire when she was hired by Dudley Orr, founder of the Concord law firm, Orr & Reno. Mr. Orr had been former Chair of the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College, and Dartmouth had first admitted women to Dartmouth during his tenure. The Chief Justice told Mr. Orr that he should “put his money where his mouth was “and hire Susan as the firm’s first female attorney. When Mr. Orr retired from the practice of law many years later at about age 90, he gave Susan his copy of Bouton’s 1868 History of Concord and his “66” New Hampshire license plate. The plate can still be seen in the Leahy driveway and around Kennebunkport.
Not everything is perfect in life, but Susan does have a wonderful marriage to Chuck. She is stepmother to his five children, Siobhan, Chuck, Matt, Susie and Jon. Despite the fact that her Medicare card stares her in the face every day, she insists she doesn’t feel like a grandmother of nine.
Susan still makes the trip to the McLane Law Firm’s Portsmouth office where she has an active estate planning practice and serves as the professional trustee of a number family and charitable trusts. She also serves as a trustee of Strawbery Banke Museum and as trustee and president of the New Hampshire Supreme Court Society.
Susan and Chuck live in a lovely little house in an idyllic spot on Mills Road in Kennebunkport overlooking the Rachel Carson Wildlife Preserve, the Batson River and the ocean beyond.
Spike Emmons
Being the son of Steve and Natalie Emmons, and having been brought up at what is today the Trust's Emmons Preserve, Spike knows as much an anyone of the underlying values by which the KCT operates. He lobstered with Steve, camped on Cape Island, worked seven summers at the Old Grist Mill Restaurant and obtained "by osmosis" a knowledge and respect for nature. He is a graduate of Kennebunk High School and the University of Maine, and isemployed as the Finance Director at Maine's largest boat dealer, Port Harbor Marine, in South Portland.
David James
After 36 years of continuous service, Dave retired from Union Carbide Corporation in 1996 as a division Vice President. During his career, he travelled extensively throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North America, marketing and licensing technology to petrochemical producers.
Dave spent four years in the USAF, specializing in nuclear weapons technology. Following that, he attended Lehigh University, Seton Hall School of Law and was graduated from Rutgers University with degrees in Chemistry and Business Administration. He and Lisanne moved to Kennebunkport in 1997.
An active volunteer with the Kennebunkport Historical Society, the KCT, Graves Public Library and the Arundel Yacht Club, he also serves on local budget boards. Instrumental in establishing the Kennebunkport Residents Association, he has served as its president for the past seven years. Dave also writes and publishes the bimonthly KRA Newsletter for the association's 225 members.
Scott Dombrowski
Scott grew up sailing in the historic seacoast community of Marblehead, Massachusetts. He was intrigued by the insight shown by peoplethere to set aside special, historic, natural and beautiful places for people and wildlife toforever use andenjoy.He spent a lot of time at these places, andsadly watchedas pressures from development took away traditional rights of access to water and land passage.He became imspiredto usesuch insight inhis lifetime by looking ahead, and working toward thepreservation of special places for future generations.With thatseed planted, he movedoff to Northern New England.
Scott graduated from Engineering School in 1981 and worked at engineering new product projects through the development process, establishing pilot production capability and then integrating products into high speed automation systems for GTE Sylvania and Corning Life Sciences in New Hampshire and Maine. Later in his career he had the pleasure of leading a group of engineers, scientists and manufacturing personnel in the area of product development and pilot production for disease and drug discovery related products. He and his wife Karen now own and operate real estate related businesses.
Always remembering those special childhood spots, Karen and he tried along the way to gather interest in land and water access preservation in thevarious rural areas in which theylived, meeting with only limited successes. Upon moving to Kennebunkport, they were invited to join the Trust and their dreams became reality. The couple has been active in most Trust activities since 1992 and have been the proud Stewards and Light Keepers of Goat Island Light Station since April of 1993. Scott also served as project manager for the building of the Trust headquarters in 2004 and had been an active board member until he moved to the Trustees in 2008.
Linda Wade
Linda was born in Rumford, Maine and grew up in Orono. She graduated from Radcliffe College after which she taught history at Gould Academy. After marrying William Wade she moved from Bethel to Norway, Maine, where her son Brian was born. She was employed as Assistant Librarian at Bridgton Public Library. In 1986 she moved to Kennebunkport, becomming the Director of Graves Library,where she served faithfully until 2005. She remains invovled with the library, though 15 months were spent delightfully sailing in the Bahamas. Her favorite Trust holding is Tyler Brook where she volunteers as a steward.
Wayne Adams
Wayne was born and raised in Kennebunkport, Maine and has been representing individuals and small businesses in Maine for over 30 years. His areas of practice include real estate, business formation, corporate law, and estate planning.
Wayne graduated from Bowdoin College in 1963. He studied law at the University of Chicago where he earned his law degree in 1966. After serving two years in the Army (eventually attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Reserve), Wayne worked on the legal staff of the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. and then as a Foreign Service officer for the State Department. He returned to Maine in 1974 and has been practicing in the Kennebunk area since that time.
Wayne is very active in the community in which he lives and works. He is a fifth generation Mason at the Arundel Lodge and is a part Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine. He has served as a moderator in the towns of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Arundel, and Ogunquit, and is a long time member of the Kennebunk Rotary Club. He has also been involved in numerous other local charities and civic organizations.
Joseph Field
After graduating from the University of Michigan and earning a medical degree from the Chicago College of Osteopathy, Joseph served in the United States Air Force as a flight surgeon and ER doctor. Attracted by the beauty and small town charm of Cape Porpoise, he moved here to set up his practice as a doctor of Osteopathic medicine.
Peter Sargent
In 1973, Peter was a founding member of the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. He remained on the Board until 2008, serving many years as secretary and volunteering faithfully in every capacity for all of his 35 years. As the owner of Cape-Able Bike Shop, he knew and was admired by all of the kids in town. After selling his business, and with a deep knowledge of the community, he remained active in a variety of non-profits, including the KCT.
Stacey Towne
Stacey has lived his entire life in the Kennebunks. He holds an undergraudate degree in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Southern Maine. He is currently working on his Masters in Geographic Information Systems, studying issues surrounding environmental justice and what role GIS plays in successful land trusts. He teaches an Alternative Ed program at KHS and enjoys spending quality time with his wife and son.
Karl Pepin
When the Pepins moved to Cape Porpoise in 1960, they had the good fortune to rent the Stone Homestead on Pier Rd. from Milton and Virginia Bradbury. Karl still has fond memories of playing on the rope swings in the back yard, exploring the shoreline for its many treasures, rowing Hale Whitehouse's punt in the harbor and camping on Cape Island.
Karl was educated at Tufts University and the University of Southern Maine, and holds a Bachelor of Science degree. His professional career has included positions in applications engineering, new product research and development and technical consulting.
He has been a long term volunteer instructor for Maine Handicapped Skiing and Northeast Passage at UNH, non-profit organizations offering recreational opportunities for people with disabilities. He also volunteered as a mediator with the Maine Attorney General's office and an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau for several years.
Presently, Karl works with his brother John at Pepin Associates, a composites R&D company focused on developing composite materials technology for aircraft structures. While the company is located in Greenville, Karl concentrates on process development and machine design in a branch facility at the Sanford Airport. The company now has a draft Boeing material specification for its patented carbon composite and is working under a Navy contract to qualify its material for use in Navy aircraft.
In his off time, he enjoys bicycling or rollerblading in the summer months and skiing or snowshoeing in the winter. A long time airplane and helicopter pilot, Karl has restored a vintage 1947 Stinson taildragger, which he maintains at the Sanford Airport. He enjoys offering flights to kids for the Young Eagles program and donating flights to charity auctions, and exhibits his aircraft at the Owl's Head Transportation Museum.
Ruth Fernandez
Ruth is an Emmons Preserve neighbor and a long time supporter of the Trust's efforts to preserve the land in Kennebunkport for the benefit of its citizens. Active in community and school affairs, she has served on numerous boards in town - Recreation Committee, Library Board, KEMS Board, Youth Services Commission, Cemetery Committee, Health Council and DART, and, for many years on the Trustboard where she gave of her time and talent as the volunteer coordinator. Now that her five children are raised she continues her volunteering and pottery work.
Gail Roller
"The land that we preserve and protect is precious and it is our legacy to future generations," says Gail, a teacher in the Biddeford school system."My family has had the privilege of living adjacent to the Emmons Preserve for 30 years so each day we are witness to the value of land conservation. As a former KCT Board member, a mother, an educator and an outdoor enthusiast, I am proud to have worked in many capacities and with many dedicated individuals in the Trust. Over the years KCT has been successful in preserving our islands, green spaces and forests. I look forward to maintaining my involvement in the organization and to enjoying KTC’s ongoing acquisitions and accomplishments. Preserving the quality of our natural environment increases the quality of our daily life."
Kenneth
Hutchins
As the owner of Port Lobster Company on Ocean Avenue in Kennebunkport, Sonny has spent a lifetime working with, and getting to know,people from all parts of our community.In the process he has come to be highly respected by all. Founded in 1953, Port Lobster is now been family owned for three generations, selling retail and wholesale lobster, fish and seafood all year round. Sonny is active in Arundel Lodge of Masons and other community organizations. His personal knowledge of Kennebunkport runs very deep.
