6- AGING IN PLACE FORUM - JUNE 20, 2018
Presenters-Social/Recreation Panel
Russ Pierson, LCC
Russ Pierson is a GreenFaith fellow,
earned a Doctor of Ministry in Global
Leadership from George Fox University
and holds several sustainability-related
cetiifications. He served as the Associate
Director of Facilities Management and
Planning and the Transportation
Coordinator at Lane Community
College prior to accepting his current
assignment as Dean of LCC’s Florence Center in March 2015.
Russ has an intriguing, mixed-up background in construction
management, the faith community and higher education, and
he is currently serving as a Conversation Project leader around
Faith and Politics with Oregon Humanities. He has contributed
to Huffington Post, Justice Unbound, Sojourners, A Matter of
Spirit, The Siuslaw News and is a frequent presenter at
education-related conferences. Russ also begins a term as
President of the Board of the Florence Area Chamber of
Commerce in June. He loves great conversations, his wife Tami,
three adult children and his three grandboys,
among other things.
Justin Helberg,
Honeyman
State Park
My name is
Justin Helberg.
I am the Park
Manager
at
Honeyman State Park. I was raised in
Florence, Oregon and graduated from
Siuslaw High School. I attended college
at Oregon State University and have
worked for Oregon Parks and Recreation
Department for 20 years. I care deeply
about this community and the commu-
nity's connection to Jessie M. Honeyman
Memorial State Park and its resources.
Kristin Anderson,
FRAA
Kristin Anderson
spent 26 years work-
ing as engineer,
manager and direc-
tor of Engineering at Hewlett-Packard and MontaVista
Software. In retirement, Kristin turned her focus to
fused glass art which led to her work with Florence
Regional Arts Alliance in Florence, OR, of which she
is currently President. She loves combining her love
of working with people with her love of art and FRAA
allows her this synergy. Kristin’s goals at FRAA
include creating an environment in Florence for art-
ists to meet and create together and working with the
local youth providing a venue for them to learn how
to promote and sell their artwork. Kristin is also a
member of the Backstreet Gallery Co-op leading their
marketing team.
Kristin has an BS and MS in Engineering from Santa
Clara University and an Management of Technology
from National Technology University.
Presenters
John Herbst, Coastal Fitness
John Herbst is a Colorado
native living there for 49
years. He became a full time
Personal Trainer in 2004
while living in Colorado and
has been continuing this
occupation ever since. John
has lived in Florence for a
total of 8.5 years and working
at Coastal Fitness for 7 of those years. John is a senior and currently 95
% of his clients are also seniors. Perhaps this is due to the fact he can
relate to the issues of aging and because he has been at the health club
for 7 years.
John does strength, endurance, flexibility, and balance training with all
his clients, no matter their gender or age. John finds that several people
think they can lose weight by exercising. This is partly true, however
John likes the saying- lose weight in the kitchen and get fit in the gym.
This is especially true as we age. Our lifestyle changes, there are hor-
monal changes, wear and tear on our joints, and gravity issues with the
physical body.
Mary Shaw, Farmers Market
Mary Shaw has been a whole foods teacher and advocate
for over two decades. After working at the Ashland Food
Co-op as the Education Coordinator and serving on the
Rogue Valley Food System Network for 12 years, she
retired and moved with her husband to Florence where
she has continued her work as was a driving force in the
founding of the new Florence Farmers Market. She also
leads a group of dedicated and experienced food special-
ists who provide cooking demonstrations for several local
service organizations.
Frances Klippel
Frances Klippel has lived in Florence for 18 years. She has
spent years honing her crafts as healer, herbalist, creator
of concoctions, potions, and recipes that are healthy and
natural. She volunteers at Lane Community College with English as a Second Language
and Citizenship classes. She is active in the Big Wave poetry group and the Florence
Baha’i Community. She is a committed volunteer in the effort to support local food
production and sales. And she loves to dance!
