Jake Meyer

Organizational Director

Before arriving at Sunfield, Jake Meyer worked with children and children’s programs for thirty-two years in southern New Mexico. He has filled the roles of teacher, basketball coach, counselor, mentor, and has spent twenty-three years as executive director of a youth serving program called Children in Need of Services (CHINS). Jake loves developing new programs needed by children and families, and sustaining and improving those that already exist. With a supportive community and the help of dedicated staff and volunteers, CHINS grew from infancy to its current status of five distinct programs serving hundreds of children and families with a staff of over eighty and a budget of two and one-half million dollars.

Family is extremely important to Jake. He and his wife, Carol, have three adult children who live in Port Townsend and Denver, and a grandson, Ashton, who attends Sunfield Waldorf School. Jake embraces the commitment and energy among Sunfield’s students, faculty, staff, and volunteers, and feels honored to work in this beautiful setting, supporting Sunfield’s vision of serving children and the community with a Waldorf school and a vibrant farm.

Viviann Kuehl

School Administrator; Sunflower Kindergarten Assistant

Viviann Kuehl was born in White Salmon, Washington, and grew up on salmon hatcheries in the Northwest, firmly planted in the outdoors. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology/anthropology and English from Western Washington University, and went on to a career in mental health, working on crisis lines, as a manager for a vocational rehabilitation facility for the chronically mentally ill, and in community mental health. She holds a master’s degree in applied behavioral science from City University.

After marrying Todd Miller, Viviann moved to Quilcene where they raised their two children. When her children were attending preschool, Viviann was inspired to become a teacher, and has been actively teaching in a variety of settings, including Sunfield’s first class. Her children are now grown and have careers: her son, Andy, works as a mechanical engineer, and her daughter, Lillian, works as a biologist at a shellfish laboratory.

Viviann enjoys writing local news for the Leader and is currently at work on a book. She also enjoys sailing, biking, and traveling with Todd.

Verity and Neil Howe

Farm Managers/Farmer Educators

Born in the United Kingdom, Farmer Verity received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Edinburgh University in Scotland before spending two exhilarating years teaching English to junior high and high school students in Japan. She traveled overland through Asia, Russia, and Europe, and back to the United Kingdom, where she gained a master’s degree in photography from University of the Arts, London. After doing some work in photography, Verity spent a very fulfilling year as an outreach coordinator for a breast cancer charity, promoting breast awareness among marginalized communities in central London. Verity took a year’s sabbatical to travel and learn about organic farming around the United States. While volunteering on a papaya farm on the Big Island, Hawaii, Verity met Farmer Neil and never looked back!

Born and raised in Ohio, Neil started out destined for stage and screen. After completing a bachelor’s degree in theater at Columbia College Chicago, he spent several years living and working in the “Windy City.” It was the filming of a travel show that took him to Hawaii. Upon meeting Verity and being introduced to World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)*, Neil realized that his true destiny was not acting and filming on the stage, but living and working on the land.

Verity and Neil traveled and worked together on many organic and biodynamic farms in Europe, New Zealand, and the United States, culminating in their wedding in England in the fall of 2007. Their honeymoon at a biodynamic Italian vineyard cemented their commitment to a biodynamic path and was followed by a year-long apprenticeship on an organic farm in Cuyahoga National Park, Ohio. Following the apprenticeship, they spent a year with the Decater Family at Live Power Community Farm farm in Mendocino County, California, practicing biodynamic farming and Community Supported Agriculture.

Alongside the farmers and other members of the Biodynamic Association of Northern California (BDANC), Verity and Neil immersed themselves in the study of biodynamics and anthroposophy. Neil drove draft horses, Verity hand milked cows and sheep, and they both were actively involved with the children who participated in Live Power’s farm stay program for visiting elementary and secondary school classes, mostly from Waldorf schools throughout California. With generous and humble mentoring from Live Power’s farmers, Verity and Neil truly embraced biodynamics, both agriculturally and philosophically.

Verity and Neil are delighted to now be working alongside children who attend Sunfield Waldorf School, and—after their extensive travels—to settle down and call the Olympic Peninsula and the Sunfield farmhouse their home.

*WWOOF is a worldwide network that links volunteer workers to farms; the volunteers receive accommodation and food and learn about organic farming from their WWOOF hosts.

Shelley French

Business Manager

Shelley French began her career as an accounting consultant, serving the financial and office management needs of business owners in the Seattle area. She owned and operated her own company, SRF Resources, for seventeen years.

In 2003 her passion for nature, along with her business expertise and advanced organizational skills, led to the co-founding of Nature Vision, Inc., a nonprofit environmental education organization in Redmond, WA. Shelley served as CFO for five years and remains on the board of directors.

An experienced naturalist and environmental educator, she has presented on over twenty environmental topics, ranging from forest ecology to environmental stewardship, to multi-generational audiences.

A certified restoration ecologist, credentialed from the University of Washington Restoration Ecology Network, Shelley participated in a year-long team project to design and implement a riparian restoration project at the East Basin of Union Bay adjacent to the Center for Urban Horticulture while attending the UW.

Shelley holds an AA in Business and Accounting from Bellevue Community College, and a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies: Science, Technology and the Environment from the University of Washington, Bothell, 2002.

In her free time Shelley enjoys gardening, knitting, and walking the trails at Fort Worden near her home. She is in the process of obtaining her private pilot certificate, with hopes of her first solo flight next summer.

Michele Meyering

Administrative Assistant

Michele Meyering grew up on the Olympic Peninsula before moving to Seattle where she finished her schooling. In Seattle, she started her career, beginning as a file clerk and eventually working as an executive assistant for a large nonprofit education association. Most recently, Michele was employed as the office manager of a locally-owned timber frame company. She joins Sunfield bringing a wealth of administrative knowledge and experience along with an appreciation for hard work and determination. She is the mother of two small boys and loves to experience the world through their eyes. What Michele enjoys most about Sunfield is the potential for all to grow, and to create and share their journeys through community.

Helen Curry

Seventh/eighth-grade teacher; founding member

Helen Curry began her teaching career over thirty years ago in a fishing village in South Africa. Since then she has been involved in a wide spectrum of teaching experiences – from sail-training on schooners to teaching English as a second language in Venezuela. She is a certified Early Childhood Educator, holds a post-graduate degree from the University of Cape Town, and received her Drama Teacher’s diploma from Trinity College, London. She has been a Waldorf teacher for the past seventeen years, running Tomten Farm Kindergarten and the Children’s Circle, her home-based Waldorf-inspired programs, and graduating two groups of students from part-time academic grade-school programs.

Helen and her husband, Bill, have two daughters: Zorina, who recently graduated from Amherst College, and Rosaletta, who is a student at Ithaca College. Both girls grew up on the family’s small farm—riding horses, milking goats, tending to farm chores, and attending Helen’s home-based programs during their grade school years. When she is not mucking out the barn, Helen enjoys singing, music, and dance; she studied eurythmy for many years, which, she feels, embraces and elevates all the arts she loves. Helen finds balance and renewal by hiking in the mountains in the summer, cross-country skiing in the winter, and walking on the beach in the evening.

Beth Ann O’Dell

Fifth/Sixth-grade teacher; Board member

Beth Ann O’Dell was born and raised in Seattle. She is a trained Waldorf teacher and attended college at Oglala Lakota College in South Dakota. She has been working with children and families in Waldorf schools, public schools, Indian schools, and the Head Start program for more than twenty years. She is the mother of four children, three of whom are now grown, and the grandmother of one. Beth Ann has lived on the tiny island of Palau in Micronesia and on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Her travels have helped her develop a deep respect and honoring of people from very diverse cultural, religious, and economic backgrounds. She has a passion for youth, fiber arts, animals, and living on the land in close contact with nature.

Ruth Mandelbaum-Pope

Third/Fourth-grade teacher

Ruth Mandelbaum-Pope was raised in Seattle, Washington, where she spent as much time as possible gardening, hiking, and camping with her family. She received her bachelor’s degree from The Evergreen State College and her Washington State teaching certificate from Pacific Oaks College. The teaching program at Pacific Oaks emphasized development and practicum from early childhood through eighth grade. After teaching in Washington for three years, Ruth moved to Alaska and acquired an Alaska teaching certification. In Alaska, she taught special education in an Eskimo village while running the village’s pre-school program; she lived north of the Arctic Circle for five years.

Ruth has worked as a homeschool consultant and homeschooled her two children – kindergarten through first and fifth grades. Prior to arriving at Sunfield, Ruth taught first through third grades at the Aurora Waldorf School in Anchorage for three years; she is currently working towards a Waldorf Teaching Certification through Rudolf Steiner College in California. Ruth loves to play outside, tell stories, and dance. She and her husband, Mark, have a son, Raven, who attends Port Townsend High School, and a daughter, Ciel, who is a student at Sunfield Waldorf School.

Lesa Sevin

First/Second-grade teacher

Lesa Sevin spent her childhood years in the majestic Columbia River Gorge area of Western Washington. Her early exposure to the wonders of the natural world laid the foundation for her lifelong relationship with nature and artistic expression. In her late teens, Lesa discovered Waldorf education and Anthroposophy and found herself naturally drawn to the artistry and spirituality of the Waldorf educational philosophy – a philosophy that would provide a thread of continuity throughout the years to come. As a young adult in 1977, Lesa moved to rural Okanogan County in North Central Washington and surrounded by the rugged alpine desert landscape, she committed herself to living and working on the land.

In 1989, Lesa had her first child and soon after began Natural World Arts, a small home business through which she sold the handmade items she crafted out of natural materials. In addition, she began learning the Japanese printing art of Katazome, studied puppetry and storytelling at the Juniper Tree School of Puppetry Arts, and completed a program in Waldorf early childhood education. In 1993, she purchased seventy-five acres of land in the Okanogan area, and by the time her second child was born in 2001, Lesa and her husband were operating a fully established farm with horses, goats, sheep, and chickens. While involved in child rearing and her personal activities, Lesa found time to work as an educator in her local community: she began two Waldorf-inspired preschools, worked as a substitute teacher, volunteered in the public schools as an art instructor, taught art privately through various art organizations, and offered storytelling and puppetry at community events.

With a desire to further her knowledge in Waldorf education and pursue a professional career as an educator, Lesa began simultaneous studies through Antioch University New England and Prescott College in Arizona. In 2008, she graduated from Antioch with a Waldorf teaching certificate, and in 2010, she earned a BA in Elementary Education from Prescott College. Lesa is committed to fostering awareness and responsibility for the environment and the expanding global community as she now shares her life experiences, her love of nature, and her extensive artistry with the Sunfield community.

Isolde Perry

Second-Grade Main Lesson Teacher;
Specialty Subject Teacher; Founding member

Isolde Perry was born and raised in Seattle and earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of Washington. She received Waldorf Teacher training at Rudolf Steiner College and also trained in Extra Lesson which is used to help educationally challenged children. She has taught in two Waldorf schools and has been utilizing Waldorf education and offering Extra Lesson in homeschool settings for eleven years. She is presently teaching a small homeschooled eighth-grade group. Isolde has always been interested in singing and performed with a trio, the Silvertones, in North Carolina. She now sings with the high energy choir, Port Townsend Songlines.

Monica Van Loon

Spanish teacher

Monica Van Loon, or Señora Monica, was born in Mexico City, Mexico, where she received her bachelor’s degree in human resources. At the age of twenty-three, she moved to Cancun, Quintana Roo, where her family continues to reside. Monica has been living in the United States for nine years.

Monica understands the importance of great communication and playful learning. She loves working with children and teaching them about her culture through games and songs. This is Monica’s third year teaching Spanish at Sunfield; she also does private tutoring. Monica is married to Brian, and she is the mother of two boys, who attend Sunfield Waldorf School. Monica loves living in Port Ludlow, Washington, where her family can enjoy the outdoors: biking, hiking, swimming, and jumping in puddles. She looks forward to working with the children at Sunfield and teaching them to love and understand the Mexican culture.

Koshalla Flockoi

Sunflower Kindergarten teacher

Koshalla Flockoi grew up on Orcas Island, in the Pacific Northwest, in an artistically supportive community. As a little girl Koshalla had the great fortune to attend a Waldorf school, and this experience created lasting impressions. She remembers how the light filtered through the cedar boughs and the way the shadows danced and fluttered on the table. She remembers the feeling of the rectangular crayons, solid and thick, helping her find the counting gnomes still hidden on sheets of rough white paper. She even remembers the taste of the hard beeswax and how terribly long it seemed to take in her small hands to soften. At Dolphin Bay Waldorf School, Koshalla learned to love gardening, baking, knitting, reading and writing, and established a deep relationship with music.

After graduating from high school, Koshalla chose to live and work on an organic farm, sharing chores, cooking, and the care of twins – all the aspects of community living. Working part time, Koshalla managed to save enough money to travel the world. Upon returning, Seattle became her new home and for the next few years, she studied acting, vocal jazz, music theory, and conducting, and fell in love with life as an artist.

Koshalla is a certified Waldorf educator and finished her training at the Sound Circle Center in Seattle. She learned all aspects of working in a Waldorf kindergarten during her three years at The Fremont Community School in Seattle. In those years, Koshalla worked as a teacher’s assistant, co-taught, led class on her own, managed administrative work, and ran the summer programs. Koshalla and her husband, Hans, surf the cold Northwest water and share a garden and chickens.

In Koshalla’s heart, to be a Waldorf teacher is to summon up all of the gifts and passions the Creator has so lovingly shared with her and integrate them in a whole and balanced way. She knows how it feels to be a child surrounded by the warm, serene strength of the Waldorf community and wholeheartedly is grateful for the opportunity to help create that environment at Sunfield Waldorf School.

Monica Boucher

Swallow’s Nest Kindergarten teacher

One of three children, Monica Boucher spent her childhood in the Seattle area. She first became interested in Waldorf education while attending Western Washington University and Fairhaven College. After graduating from the Eugene Waldorf Teacher Training program in 2000, she taught in several early childhood programs in the Seattle area, including Three Cedars School, Bright Water School, and Seattle Waldorf School. In 2002, prior to teaching at Bright Water School, Monica had lived for a brief time in Port Townsend, working as a kindergarten assistant at Wild Roses Kindergarten. In 2008, winds of change came and brought her full circle: With her husband, Ghee, and their two young children, Monica moved back to Port Townsend. It brings her great joy to be part of the Sunfield community.

Jocelyn Hanbey

Swallow’s Nest Kindergarten assistant

A lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, Jocelyn Hanbey has backpacked extensively in mountain wilderness, searched out the small wonders of tide pools, and sailed on the waters of Puget Sound. Jocelyn especially loves the ancient forests of the Olympic Peninsula, her home since 1993.

Jocelyn majored in environmental education at Western Washington University, and later earned a master’s degree in elementary education through City University. After completing her student teaching requirements in the Chimacum and Port Townsend school districts, Jocelyn taught physical education at Swan School in Port Townsend. She also taught in both preschool and after-school programs. Jocelyn strives to role model a strong work ethic, the value of team work, being an authentic human being, and staying in good health. In the spring of 2010, Jocelyn began working as Sunfield’s kindergarten assistant. Waldorf education has always intrigued her, and she sees her work at Sunfield as a learning adventure on her path to connect children to the Earth.

Jocelyn’s experiences caring for children stretch back to her own childhood, being the oldest of five children. Beyond teaching in schools, her work with children has included teaching natural history, wilderness skills, swimming, and gardening. She has made a commitment to guide children in developing a deep love for nature, so that someday they may be inspired to do the work needed to save the Earth’s wild spaces. Jocelyn loves being on the farm and sharing with children her own love of nature (and her love of the farm animals!).

Jocelyn’s two children, William and Serena, have spent much of their lives outdoors, and both attend Sunfield Waldorf School. Her husband, Gary, is a teacher, an environmental educator, and a farm volunteer. In her spare time, Jocelyn is writing a book of children’s stories about the natural world.

Tammy Betzko

Buttercup Parent-Toddler Class Teacher

Tammy Betzko has a Masters of Education in Waldorf Early Childhood, and has worked as a Waldorf kindergarten teacher and farm educator. Previous to stepping into her Waldorf training, Tammy was a child and family therapist, and a public school teacher to elementary-aged children. She is choosing to devote her life and livelihood to protecting the magic of childhood, that a child's full-bodied reverence and wonder may never fade away. She is Mama to Ukiah, her 2 year-old son (to a few animals, as well!), and lives at Ritzenfritzen with her family.