Meet the Staff

Director
Allyn Lord is the museum director. She's been active in numerous professional museum organizations in Arkansas, the Southeast, and the country. She also serves as a peer reviewer for the American Association of Museums and as a field reviewer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services' assessment and grants programs. In May 2007, Allyn was elected to the board of directors of the American Association of Museums. She has lived in Northwest Arkansas since 1982 and enjoys volunteering, her two cats, kayaking, and hosting the occasional game show. alord@springdaleark.org

Collections
Carolyn Reno has been the collections manager since 1984. She takes care of the museum's collections and her duties include researching, cataloging, cleaning, and storing objects, as well as overseeing maintenance of security and HVAC systems. Her museum-related interests include textiles, ceramics, and researching old patents on the U.S Patent website. creno@springdaleark.org

Heather Marie Wells is the collections assistant. She has been at Shiloh since 2002 and spends most of her time cataloging, cleaning, researching, and storing objects. She also helps with exhibits from time to time, and is in charge of producing our podcasts. Heather Marie earned her MA and BA in anthropology from the University of Arkansas and she has participated in archeological digs in Arkansas and Oregon. In addition to her background in museum studies and archeology, she has spent time studying popular culture and the cultures of Ireland, the American South, and the Middle East. hmwells@springdaleark.org

Exhibits
Curtis Morris has worked at the museum since 1998, first as collections assistant and currently as exhibits manager. His responsibilities include designing and constructing permanent, temporary, and traveling exhibits. A second-generation University of Arkansas alumni, he has a BA in history and an MA in anthropology, both from Fayetteville. His interests include archaeology, primitive technology, and building "stuff." If it has wheels, floats, flies, or shoots, he's into it, and the older the better. He is currently recuperating from building a new house, where he lives with his five gals (spouse, two daughters, one lab, one goldie). cmorris@springdaleark.org

Education
Pody Gay, education coordinator, grew up in Little Rock, but her roots are deep in the Ozarks. Her mother was a fifth-generation Ozarker from West Fork. Pody earned her BS in park administration from the University of Missouri. She has been a park interpreter in Arkansas, Missouri, and New York. Pody moved to New Orleans to become the education coordinator for the Louisiana Nature and Science Center but after a decade in the Crescent City, the hills were calling and she moved to Northwest Arkansas in 1990. Pody brings more than 25 years of experience in coordinating education programs, managing volunteers and running nonprofit organizations. With a fairly recent "empty nest" (a son in Connecticut and a daughter in Seattle), Pody stays busy with friends and family. She loves to read, swim, play in the woods, and hang at the river. pgay@springdaleark.org

Alma Lyle is the education assistant. She grew up in the Air Force, and calls several places home. Most recently, she lived in San Antonio, Texas with her parents. She attended the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, where she fell in love with the state of Arkansas. As a new graduate with a BA in History, Alma enjoys exploring the history of Northwest Arkansas. In her spare time, she enjoys museum hopping, antique store crawling with her friends, taking her energetic Lab and husband to the dog park, and camping in the numerous parks the Natural State has to offer. acruz@springdaleark.org

Research Library
Marie Demeroukas, photo archivist/librarian, came to the Ozarks in 1980 and knew a good thing when she saw it. She attended the University of Arkansas with the notion of becoming an archeologist but when she took a museum-studies class, she was hooked. She brings her experience in collections management to the research library where she maintains the museum's extensive collections of photos and research materials and answers the public's inquiries about area history. Her interests include cooking, crafting, gardening, flea marketing, making wheel-thrown pottery, collecting sand, and lounging in the hammock. mdemeroukas@springdaleark.org

LuAnn Clarkson, special project librarian, says, "I may be asked to do any number of things. Presently, I'm afloat sorting a veritable sea of photographs donated by local residents Having lived in Springdale my entire life, with a BA in political science from the University of Arkansas, it is a task I seem peculiarly well suited for, and I enjoy it very much." lclarkson@springdaleark.org

Don House is the photographer. A relative newcomer to the museum, Don has lived and worked in the Ozarks for over twenty years as a fine-art photographer and writer. When asked about his decision to join Shiloh Museum, Don says," I jumped at the chance to work with such an accomplished and dedicated group of people - artists, historians, designers, educators and administrators. It's rare when they all come together, and they do at Shiloh Museum." Find him weekdays in the basement darkroom immersed in traditional photographic processes, or weekends wandering down back roads with camera and tripod at the ready. dhouse@springdaleark.org

Community Outreach
Susan Young has been the outreach coordinator since 1994. She is a fifth-generation Ozarker. Before settling in the Ozarks, her kinfolk hailed from the southern Appalachians in Kentucky and Tennessee. So you see, there is no denying Susan's hillbilly roots. In fact, her heritage is something she is quite proud of and passionate about, which makes the Shiloh Museum the perfect place for Susan to hang her hat. Susan's areas of special interest include religion, cemeteries, and moonshining. syoung@springdaleark.org

Secretary
Betty Bowling has been the museum secretary since 1981. She maintains the membership records, types correspondence, coordinates mail-outs, sends out monthly information packets to the board of trustees, updates the museum scrapbook, and assists with the planning and presentation of museum events. bbowling@springdaleark.org

Buildings and Grounds
Mark Gwatney is our new maintenance person. Born in Texas, Mark is a self-proclaimed Air Force brat who has lived all over the United States. He graduated from high school in Wheatland, California, a small town in northern California. How small? There were 17 students in Mark’s graduating class! After high school, Mark worked as a forest firefighter, and then for California State Parks. He moved to Rogers in 1992. Mark and his wife Laura have four children and one grandson. His hobbies include woodworking, fishing, camping, and snowboarding.