Montgomery History Speakers Bureau:
Biographies
ROBERT BACHMAN
Robert (Bob) Bachman has served as Secretary, Vice President & President of the Montgomery History Board of Directors and currently serves as Chair of the Mary Kay Harper Center for Suburban Studies Steering Committee. He received his MA in American Studies from George Washington University where his research focused on American suburbanization. His thesis was entitled: Takoma Park, MD: 1883-1942 – A Case Study of a Railroad Suburb. Bob curated three online exhibits on the suburbanization of Montgomery County in the 1950s that can be accessed on the Montgomery History website.
ANDY BITTNER
Andy Bittner is a historian, author, and tour guide specializing in the Washington National Cathedral, the American Civil War, and the local history of Montgomery County, Maryland. He has had a particular fascination with Washington National Cathedral since watching it be built when he was a child, and eventually wrote the book Building Washington National Cathedral (Arcadia Publishing, 2015). Today, Andy is widely regarded as a leading expert on the architecture, art, and history of that building.
RALPH BUGLASS
Ralph Buglass, a Montgomery County native and avid history buff, has taught at lifelong learning institutes associated with Johns Hopkins and American universities and Montgomery College. He speaks frequently to community groups, businesses, and other organizations as well as at national conferences. In 2020, with Peerless Rockville, he co-authored Images of America: Rockville, a pictorial history of the city’s 250 years. A retired communications professional, he is a graduate of Winston Churchill High School and has a B.A. in American history from Cornell and an M.A. in journalism from American University.
EMILY CORRELL
Emily Correll is a former reference librarian with a Bachelors in History from Birmingham-Southern College and an MSLS and an MA in History from the University of North Carolina. She was the School Program Coordinator for the Montgomery County Historical Society from 1994-2010 and was instrumental in getting Montgomery County History Day started. She still volunteers with the Montgomery History and, like her lecture subject Dora Higgins, is a member of Christ Episcopal Church in Rockville. She also tutors with Literacy Council.
KATIE DISHMAN
Katie Dishman has been the corporate archivist at Marriott International since December 2015. Prior to moving to Maryland, she was an archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration in Chicago. She was also a corporate archivist at General Mills, Anheuser-Busch, and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. She has a Master of Arts in Public History and a Master of Library and Information Science and is a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists.
JEANNE GARTNER
Jeanne T. Gartner is a co-owner of the former Reed Brothers Dodge in Rockville. Lewis Reed, the founder of Reed Brothers Dodge, was her grandfather. She served in The United States Air Force Band in Washington, D.C. for 30 years before retiring in July 2006. She was the recipient of the 2016 Arthur M. Wagman Award for Historic Preservation Communication from Peerless Rockville for documenting the history of Reed Brothers Dodge in blog and book format. You can read more on her blog here.
BARBARA GLICKMAN
Author Barbara Glickman has been an avid and active member of the DC gardening community for many years and is a member of the Acorn Garden Club and Great Falls Gardeners. Her extensive travels have taken her to gardens around the country and the world. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Franklin and Marshall College, a Master’s Degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan, and an MBA in Marketing from George Washington University. She has presented her book to numerous garden clubs, rotary clubs, and libraries. She worked in health care administration for twenty years and has lived in the Washington area for over thirty years.
SARAH HEDLUND
Sarah Hedlund holds a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Maryland with a specialization in archives and digital curation. She joined the staff at Montgomery History in the fall of 2016 as Archivist for the Montgomery County Archives, later adding the title of Librarian and Archivist for the Jane C. Sween Research Library and Special Collections in 2017. She has worked as a contract archivist, as as a graduate assistant archivist for the University of Maryland, and as an intern at the Archives Center in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Acting as both archivist and researcher, she has authored several articles published in the Montgomery County Story (Montgomery History’s bi-annual journal) on the three lynchings in Montgomery County and on the 75-year history of the Montgomery County Historical Society. Since 2018 she has been a frequent speaker for Montgomery History’s programs, including History Conference, History Conversations, and Speakers Bureau engagements throughout the community.
SANDRA HEILER
Sandra Heiler served as a commissioner for 13 years on Montgomery County’s Historic Preservation Commission, including 3 years as Vice Chair and 3 as Chair. She is Treasurer of MPI and a former member of the Board of Preservation Maryland. Earlier, she served on the Sudbury, Massachusetts Historic Districts Commission and as a historic properties researcher and Curator of the Robert Paine, Jr. house museum. In 2014, she served as the Director of Brookeville’s War of 1812 Bicentennial celebration and co-produced the movie “Capital for a Day.” For the last three years, she co-produced and directed movies to substitute for in-person celebrations of MPI’s annual Historic Preservation Awards.
Sandra has a BA in Mathematics and an MA in American Studies and Architectural History from Boston University. After a 38-year career as a computer science researcher, she retired from Verizon Laboratories as Principal Scientist and Director of Verizon’s Information Technology Lab.
CLARENCE HICKEY
Clarence Hickey is an interpretive docent with the Montgomery History’s Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine in Rockville, MD, and a re-enactor with the Speakers Bureau. He portrays historic Rockville physician Dr. Edward E. Stonestreet, who practiced medicine for 51 years (1852-1903) and was a Civil War Surgeon with the U. S. Army. Clarence’s living history portrayals, some in first person Chautauqua format, discuss the Doctor’s life and times, medical education, medical practice, and Civil War service; 19th-century medicine; and Civil War medicine and its effects on civilian medical practice. The Chautauqua format includes a first-person appearance and presentation by Dr. Stonestreet (in 19th-century attire), question and answer by the doctor in the 1800s, and question and answer by Clarence, stepping out of character. The performance draws from Clarence’s book Send For the Doctor: The Life and times of Dr. Edward E. Stonestreet, published by the Montgomery County Historical Society in 2009.
DON HOUSLEY
Don Housley retired in July 2005, after 36 years teaching U.S. history and serving the last 25 years of his teaching career as chairman of the Social Studies Department at Wheaton High School in Montgomery County, Maryland. Currently, he volunteers in the Office of Archaeology for Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (Montgomery County). Mr. Housley also serves as president of the Mid-Potomac Chapter of the Archeological Society of Maryland and secretary of the Montgomery County Civil War Round Table.
JAMES H. JOHNSTON
Jim Johnston is a lawyer, writer, and lecturer in Bethesda. He has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post, White House History Magazine, Howard University Law Journal, Maryland History Magazine, and many others. He has written four books: The Recollections of Margaret Cabell Brown Loughborough, A Southern Woman’s Memories of Richmond, VA, and Washington, DC, during the Civil War (Hamilton Books, 2009); From Slave Ship to Harvard, Yarrow Mamout and the History of an African American Family (Fordham University, Press 2012); The War Story of Harold Johnston (Amazon, 2017); and, Murder, Inc.,The CIA under John F. Kennedy (University of Nebraska Press, 2020).
PATRICK LACEFIELD
Patrick Lacefield is a Civil War reenactor who shares songs and stories from the War Between the States, wearing both blue and gray, accompanying himself on guitar. His maternal great-great-grandfather served in the Arkansas State Legislature during “independence” and his sons fought with the Arkansas cavalry. On his father’s side, Patrick’s ancestors served in the Tennessee and Kentucky infantries. He participated in the filming of the motion picture Gods & Generals, portraying a soldier from the 20th Maine Regiment. He is a native of Arkansas who grew up in Missouri. Patrick served as Montgomery County Director of Public Information and spokesman for County Executive Ike Leggett for 12 years, in addition to working as Press Secretary and Speechwriter for Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California, and as National Director of Democratic Socialists of America.
STEVE LAROCQUE
Steve LaRocque has been active as a performer, director, and playwright in the greater Washington, DC, area since 1994. He has appeared as an actor in more than a dozen productions at Silver Spring Stage and has had eleven of his one-act plays produced there. He is also a charter member of the Quotidian Theatre Company of Bethesda and has appeared in more than twenty Quotidian productions. A retired Navy officer, he served 29 years on active duty.
KAREN YAFFE LOTTES
Karen Yaffe Lottes is a historian and museum educator. She worked for many years as Education Director for the Montgomery County Historical Society and is currently a museum consultant. She has developed site-specific and county-wide local history programs, including “In Search of Ghosts,” one of the first history-based Halloween programs in the Washington, D.C. area. In Search of Maryland Ghosts: Montgomery County is Karen’s first book, although she has published extensively on the history of Montgomery County, MD in MCHS publications as well as in local newspapers. She lives in historic Washington Grove, MD with her family and several furry companions.
KATHIE MACK
Kathie Mack has called Montgomery County home since 1975. She loves history, knitting, and the performing arts. When she gets up on stage herself these days, it is usually to sing in nursing homes.
JULIANNE MANGIN
Julianne Mangin is an independent researcher, writer, family historian, and cemetery preservation advocate. She is a retired librarian who worked as a website developer at the Library of Congress from 1998 to 2011. Prior to that, she worked at the National Agricultural Library from 1984 to 1997. She holds a Masters degree in Library Science from Catholic University. Ms. Mangin gives talks on the history of the Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery; the Woman’s Commonwealth of Washington, a feminist commune in Colesville; and Will Adams, the fiddler of Ken-Gar.
EILEEN MCGUCKIAN
Eileen McGuckian is an historian, author, and recognized leader in historic preservation at the local, regional, and state levels. A founder and past president of Peerless Rockville, her 2001 book, Rockville: Portrait of a City, chronicles the history of her adopted home town. Other publications include The Sesquicentennial of Rockville: Local Government at 150 Years (2010) and narratives about the Rockville Pike, County churches and cemeteries, and Rockville in the 1920s. Her experience in history and preservation spans four decades with Rockville and County historic commissions, the Maryland Historical Trust, and nonprofits such as Montgomery Preservation, Peerless Rockville, Coalition to Protect MD Burial Sites, and Higgins Cemetery Association. Eileen’s current passion focuses on historic burial sites.
LORRAINE DUTCHER MINOR
Ms. Lorraine Dutcher Minor has been researching her family for over 25 years. She is past president of the Genealogical Society of the Montgomery County Historical Society, has served as chair of the Education Committee, and is currently Co-Program Chair. She completed the National Genealogical Society home study course and several Family History courses from Brigham Young University and attended the National Institute on Genealogical Research. She teaches classes and speaks locally on basic genealogical subjects, and as a volunteer for the Washington DC Family History Center in Kensington, MD, she leads the Beginners Special Interest Group. Concurrently, she is researching her ancestors from Maine, New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Lithuania, and Poland and helping her husband with research in Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia.
WILLIAM OFFUTT
A native of Montgomery County, William Offutt is a retired public school and Montgomery College teacher. He is the author of Bethesda: A Social History and A History of Montgomery County as well as numerous articles for local newspapers and for Montgomery History. He and his wife live in Bethesda.
ROBERT PLUMB
Robert (Bob) Plumb is a resident of Montgomery County and a long-time member of Montgomery History’s Speakers Bureau. After a career with GE and Fannie Mae, he wrote Your Brother in Arms: A Union Soldier’s Odyssey. Published by the University of Missouri Press in 2011, it was released in paperback format in 2013. His second book, The Better Angels: Five Women Who Changed Civil War America, was released in March 2020 by Potomac Press, a division of the University of Nebraska Press. His writing has also appeared in the Montgomery County Story, the Washington Post, and the Washington Post Magazine. He holds a BA in history from the State University of New York at Buffalo and an MA from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School. From 2014 to 2017 and in 2019 he studied writing in summer residence at Yale. He is a member of Montgomery County Civil War Round Table, The Civil War Round Table of the District of Columbia, and the Society of Civil War Historians.
CANDACE RIDINGTON
Candace Ridington has an M.A. in English and American Literature and taught at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa, and at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is the author of RUBICON, a treatment of the love affair between Emily Dickinson’s brother Austin, and Mabel Todd, who completed the first editions of Dickinson’s poetry in the 1890’s. She has taught Elder Hostels on Emily Dickinson. Candace’s focus now lies in dramatic presentations of selected female characters. She writes the scripts and performs each role as well. Characters include Emily Dickinson, Louisa May Alcott, Olivia Twain, Clara Schumann, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Candace has also created a dramatic presentation about the Underground Railroad featuring dramatic, cameo-like glimpses of people, both anonymous and known, who were involved. This includes Louisa May Alcott who also served as a nurse at the Georgetown Union Hotel Hospital during the Civil War. Candace plays each role.
STEVE ROBERTS
Steve Roberts has been a journalist for more than 50 years, covering some of the major events of his time, from the antiwar movement and student revolts of the 1960s and 1970s to President Reagan’s historic trip to Moscow in 1988, to twelve presidential election campaigns. Steve graduated from Harvard University magna cum laude in 1964, then spent the next 25 years with the New York Times. Steve and his late wife, TV journalist Cokie Roberts, wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and they published a book together titled From This Day Forward. Steve also writes a bi-monthly column, “Hometown,” for Bethesda Magazine, and as a life-long baseball fan, he reviews sports books for the Washington Post. As a broadcaster, Steve appears regularly as a political analyst on the ABC radio network and is a substitute host on NPR’s Diane Rehm show. Since 1997, Steve has been the Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, where he has taught for the last 25 years.
SUSAN ROSENVOLD
Ms. Rosenvold began her foray into Civil War History after watching the movie Gettysburg to spot some friends who were extras. Her interest in history was piqued when she didn’t recognize several of the main characters and she has studied 19th Century American history ever since. Ms. Rosenvold has a Masters of History with a Civil War concentration, specializing in Clara Barton and Lt. General James Longstreet’s lives and roles during the Civil War. She has volunteered at Antietam National Battlefield, led the staff of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in operating the Pry House Field Hospital Museum, and managed that museum’s project of developing and opening Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office in Washington D.C. Ms. Rosenvold has conducted living history camps, portrayed Clara Barton on the Discovery Channel’s Civil War 360, hosted two episodes of American Artifacts on CSPAN-3 American History, and given many programs on several different aspects of the Civil War. As a Clara Barton/Civil War scholar, Ms. Rosenvold offers lectures, guided tours, PowerPoint presentations, and first-person portrayals (in period dress).
JUDITH WELLES
Judith (Judy) Welles is a writer and former journalist who has authored local history books about the area in which she lives including Cabin John: Legends and Life of an Uncommon Place and Lilly Stone. She also wrote a worklife e-book for Kindle, Get a Life, Try This! Judy was media relations manager for PricewaterhouseCoopers and IBM and a speechwriter for U.S. Cabinet members. She has chaired Montgomery County’s Commission on Aging, been a Board member of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Trust for the national park, and is a speaker for Montgomery History.
PAIGE WHITLEY
Ms. Whitley researches African American history in Montgomery County, MD and the greater Washington, DC area. She is co-author of “Tracing a Bethesda, Maryland, African American Community and its Contested Cemetery” (Washington History, Fall 2017) and has spoken at the DC History Conference on the survivors of the failed Île à Vache colonization effort (2018) and on Georgetown’s little-known itinerant preacher Rev. Jacob Ross (2019).