The TGO Nature Center Board of Directors...

Pat Dick

Pat Dick currently serves as the Secretary of the Board. With her past experience of working as a secretary for AETNA, she was the perfect candidate for that position! Along with husband Jim, she retired in 1995, bought an RV and began their travelling “career.”

Pat grew up in Connecticut and actually went to kindergarten with her husband. She dated him for a bit during high school and then Jim left to join the Navy. When he came home on leave they had a whirlwind two week romance, he proposed, and they were married in 1964. They have two children. Their son Jim is a 30 year Navy veteran and their daughter Shari passed away from cancer in 2014. She loves to sing and not only sang in her church choir, but with a local group called Sweet Adelines. They thoroughly enjoyed driving around in their 1960 Chevy Impala with the red and white houndstooth interior - Summer Delight. She and Jim also volunteered at Storyland in New Hampshire where Jim ran the train and Pat had the pleasure of greeting the children as Mother Goose (coincidently, another person in TGO held the same position - small world!)

They sold their house in Connecticut in 1998, traveled full time in their RV for a time, all the while making many good friends along the way. One of Pat’s fondest memories was spending six summers in Yellowstone working in the bookstore, right by Old Faithful. In 1999, friends living in TGO invited them to visit, and they loved it so much they ended up buying a lot on Oak Cove. After Jim passed in August of 2020, Pat decided to move to a park model (something they had discussed doing) and moved onto Sunset. She loves decorating, so having a new place has kept her very busy.

Besides her decorating, Pat keeps busy playing shuffleboard and Bunco. She has also enjoyed being in the Variety Show several times (her love for singing comes in very handy). Pat also works tirelessly with the Nature Center, whether it is working at the markets or helping to fix up and restore the center itself!

Loretta Anné

Loretta Anné has the vital job as Treasurer for the Nature Center. Although, she has held various other positions on the board for almost every year since its inception. Born and raised in Michigan, she had one brother and one sister and claims to be the “spoiled” child - or as she put it, “I’d just ask Grandma and I’d get it.” She and her husband, Ed, (of almost 48 years), met at church where she was the choir director. Her funniest church story was how dark the practice room was, making it difficult to read the music, so one day she came to practice and found a hard hat with a candle on top provided by Ed! They eloped to Las Vegas and became a blended family with Ed’s two daughters. Today their family has grown to include the girls’ husbands, four grandkids, and three great-grandkids.

Loretta’s was a teacher in both elementary and middle school, and her passion was in science, which instigated their move to the Space Coast of Florida. Here, she and husband were volunteers with the Space Coast Council Navy League. They were fortunate to be able to coordinate volunteers for the shuttles, the first time from a trailer at the Astronaut Hall of Fame office in the freezing cold. She served with the League as their President, Vice President, and produced their newsletter.

Owning an RV since 1980, they bought a lot in TGO in 1996 and a house in 2006, living as snowbirds until 2008 when they moved here permanently. One of their best trips was in 2015 with other TGO residents on a Western Caravan to several National Parks. Loretta has been very active in the TGO church serving as the photographer, live streaming services, making videos for memorials, and participating in the handbell and singing choirs. She is most proud of producing the Salute to the Veterans every year around Veterans Day.

Besides playing tennis, she loves to garden, and because she was once an accomplished seamstress, she joined the quilters group about a year ago. Loretta also enjoys their two Samoyed dogs, Jasmine (13 ½) and Rosie (1 ½), and their cat, Snuggles (11).