Co-President

Darrel Baumgardner

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Co-President
Secretary and Fund Raising
Bette Myerson
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I’ve been involved in-home care through Mountain Home Health Care since 1985 and am aware of the needs of all of us as we age.  Since I have no children to look after me when I get older, and because I want to stay in Taos, I want to help develop a good support network.  My background is in health care administration and I’m very involved in interfaith/intercultural efforts here in Taos.  Long, long ago I studied Latin American Studies (which is how I got here in 1984: visiting my High  School Spanish teacher).  

Bette Myerson, Secretary. B.A. and M.A. in Latin American Studies.  M.S.W. in Social Work Administration. Lived in Taos 33 years.  Worked as Finance Director for Mountain Home Health Care (and hospice for nearly 29 years). 

Human Resources
Dr. Caryle Zorumski

I relocated to Taos from the east coast and away from other family just before the tragedy of 9/11.  A few years later my remaining parent became unable to care for herself and bringing her to Taos was the only practical option. Her displacement from friends and familiar surroundings contributed to her declining health. TENT is the Taos alternative that offers an enriched life in our later years.

TENT is an important part of my community engagement and is a natural addition to 30+ years of professional practice that includes clinical and career counseling, education, governmental consultation, mediation, employee assistance, and program development.  Working with people of all ages I focus on relationships, infant/early childhood mental health, living with injury or illness, and the mind-body connection in healing. I hold a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an EdD from The College of William and Mary.

Treasurer
Reggie Mosser

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Raised in Ohio, I am a retired RN who moved from upstate NY (New Paltz) to Taos with my husband, George Brown, in 2010. I have been the treasurer of Los Jardineros Garden Club of Taos for many years. When TENT sprung up, I thought that this kind of community service was right up my alley. At first I was a regular volunteer and worked to help the new organization by keeping the volunteer records up-to-date as well as helping to provide services. I came on to the Board in July 2018 as Treasurer, and have found it very rewarding. The generosity of the greater Taos community to help and support the work of TENT is inspiring and positive and I am proud to be a part of such a great team of dedicated givers.

Technical Support
James R Ludden

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After caring for my mother-in-law and later my wife as they were dying of cancer, I realized the importance of community support and social contact as we become less able to care for ourselves. When asked, I decided to apply my technical skills to developing a community to support the elderly in Taos, where there are many elderly isolated by infirmity, geography, and poverty.

I am a jack-of-all-trades, have a lot of irrelevant education, and have run several successful small businesses, and have worked as a scientist, engineer, and management consultant. I enjoy choral singing and working in the garden and hiked a lot in the past.

Director - Activities

Honore Malony

I have lived in Taos since 1998. My husband and I moved back to the US after living in Halifax, Nova Scotia for 17 years. Knowing very little about the environment and culture of the area I joined and volunteered at the Native Plant Society as well as the Millicent Rogers Museum, where I continue to volunteer. John and I enjoyed many years of skiing and hiking until he passed away in 2017. 
Shortly after I learned about the start up of Tent and realized how important it is to have the hope and expectation of remaining in our homes as we age.  I was looking to the future too, because like many, I have no family nearby. I have three children, two living on the East Coat and one on the West Coast. I mainly drive members for their appointment, errands and shopping.

Director
Colleen Shaughnessy

COLLEEN SHAUGHNESSY recently became interim Executive Director of Youth Heartline, a non-profit organization focused on child advocacy and family stability, where she has been responsible for parent education. In addition to a long state-side career in English as a Second Language, Colleen has lived, worked, and studied in Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, South Africa, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, and other countries overseas. She is trained as a hospital chaplain and end-of-life doula and served as a hospice care volunteer. Colleen moved to northern New Mexico to be closer to family and the mountains. She began to work with TENT a couple of years ago, delivering groceries and visiting with Members. She enjoyed it so much, she says it helped her survive the pandemic! As a Director, she intends to help TENT attract a more diverse population of Members and Volunteers.

Publicity

Helen Rynaski
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Helen Rynaski, a retired speech/language pathologist, has lived in Taos since 1996. Her work included providing therapy services to elders facing communication difficulty due to a variety issues. She currently works as a freelance copyeditor. She has been a volunteer with TENT since the early days and now serves on the board. She is involved in community theatre (acting and writing) and enjoys hiking and traveling in her pandemic-driven-purchase van.

Robyn Chavez
Director

I grew up in Taos, where my family has been for generations. 
I recognize the importance of honoring culture, tradition, and history. My dad taught me about farming, agriculture, and water. I loved playing in the Acequia, which my daughters now do. 

I have been a Registered Nurse (BSN), for nearly ten years. I come from a family of nurses, whom I look up to. My nursing background includes long-term care, critical care, diagnostic imaging/interventional radiology, and hospice care. My passion for holistic end-of-life care, lead me to my current role as Co-founder and Executive Director of Red Willow Hospice, a community-based and integrative hospice.

My interest in volunteering and community collaborations brought me to TENT. I am excited to share ideas and be a resource for health, wellness, and aging. 

Jim Schultz
President Emeritus

Coordinators

Operations Coordinator

Kate Harris

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I came to Taos 20 years ago after spending 20 years in the northern New Mexico mountains (I missed the electricity and running water!), and started my volunteer work as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA - for abused and neglected children), also sitting on the Citizen's Review Board, oversight for CASA.  Nursing my husband through a protracted, terminal illness led me to the Threshold Choir, an international group whose local chapters sing to clients in hospice.  From this came my ongoing volunteer work with Mountain Home Health Care as director of the local Threshold group.

I grew up in Indonesia and Paris, with a little Connecticut. I have enough college credits for a degree but due to ever-shifting interests have not completed such. (Although after taking a few classes at UNM I have discovered that "my" subject is geography!)  My experiences with my mother's Alzheimer's, my husband's illness, hospice work, and my own questioning about my future leads me to TENT, and I am delighted to be able to participate in this organization.

Member Intake

Charlene and Gary Shapiro

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Charlene and I have lived in Taos since 2019, having both retired from the health care profession in NY.  We traded the sea for the sky.  We both did homecare, Charlene as a nurse, myself as a physical therapist. 

After finding a house and settling in, we both still felt that our knowledge could be of service to the community.  With the advent of TENT we jumped at the opportunity to become volunteers.  When we were asked to become membership coordinators it felt like the universe was unfolding perfectly before our eyes.  We gratefully acknowledge the blessing of being able to use our experience to assist TENT in benefiting others.

Hard Workers

News Editor
Linda Thompson

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We moved to Taos in 2001 from Oakland, CA, and opened a photography and writing business, High Mesa Productions. This included articles for magazines such as New Mexico Magazine, editing publications for the Foundation for Psychocultural Research, and twenty children's books on Native Peoples and the Expansion of America for Rourke Publishing Co. I taught two online copyediting courses for the University of California, Berkeley. The course "Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage for Editors" wasn't yet available online, and I developed its online version.

Previously, in California, I had 25 years of experience as editor and manager of publications for engineering companies, including writing and producing quarterly employee and client newsletters. My credentials include a B.A. in English from the University of Washington, an M.A. in English from San Francisco State University, and a secondary teaching credential from UCLA.

Marketing
Ron Furedi

Ron Furedi spent the first 60 years of his life in New York, developing a career in medical marketing and advertising. During family travels and, in fact, in his wife Marianne's magnificent gardens, Ron has always taken joy in recording and enhancing floral images. The Furedi's moved to Taos in 2005, where Ron is delighted to have more time to devote to his love of floral art, and to various community volunteer activities.

News Publisher

Terry Thompson
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My wife, Linda, and I moved to Taos in 2001 to escape the increasing overpopulation of the San Francisco Bay Area. I had spent 14 years there as a producer for an underwater film production company, followed by 7 years as an executive producer making multimedia training programs for children and adults. Landing in Taos with a new home (mortgage) and no work, I transitioned my long-time hobby of photography into an income-producing business with Linda’s help.

When I lost both of my parents in 2012, it made me keenly aware of how important it was for the elderly to receive proper care so they can continue to enjoy life. In my case, the task was made easier with the help of three siblings and family to take care of my parents in their home.  After their passing, the reality started to hit home as I thought about our future years with no children and no other relatives living within 1,000 miles. Getting involved in TENT was a start in figuring out how we would deal with our own aging in the years ahead. It is very satisfying to participate in the building of an “aging at home” structure here in Taos.

Social Media
Devin Beck

Devin Beck is our new volunteer taking over social media. Originally from Arizona, He's made Taos his home since 2012. For a decade, he has embraced the outdoors, spending his summers as a river guide and winters snowboarding and working as a sales supervisor at Taos Ski Valley. However, his passion for technology led him to a recent transition into a full-time IT professional role at Taos Ski Valley, though he still guides on the weekends. Outside of learning a new function or scouting a rapid, you can find him snowboarding at TSV, floating on his Onewheel, or undertaking a new project with his wife, Hannah.