Parkland Village Board of Directors
Rich Weiner, President
Karen and I have lived in Albuquerque since 1991, when we moved from California so that I could go to UNM Law School. I was over 50 by the time I graduated. I have only done public interest law during my entire career, working for non-profit legal services organizations and for state and city governments. I am currently working part-time for a telephone legal hotline for the elderly.
We've lived in Parkland Hills since 1993. I learned about the village movement in 2017 and the then-incipient effort to create a village for our neighborhood. I immediately jumped on board after learning that a friend’s mother-in-law owed her independence at 96 to a village in the Bay Area.
Mara Hoffman, Vice President
After I was born and joined my 2 older brothers in Peoria, Illinois, in 1935,...Dad’s retail work afforded us the opportunity to become acquainted with the midwest. My favorite homestead was in St. Louis, where I attended junior and senior high school. I also took the bus across the Mississippi to Dad’s SS Kresge Store to work, and became acquainted with the retail business.
In my fourth year at Northern Illinois State Teachers College, I married Bill Hoffman, and shortly after that we and our adorable 3-months-old daughter Lorraine, moved to Albuquerque, NM for Bill to begin his 35 years at Sandia National Labs. We adopted our 8-year-old son, Van, 4 years later. Our second home was with the Coronado Club Swim Team and their families on Sandia Base. It was such a joy to raise our family, and then, “lick-a-split” they were grown up and on their way. And so was I. Bill and I divorced, and I bought a cozy house in the Parkland Hills Neighborhood, where I'm in my 31st year of residence.
During my 9 years of working on the staff at the Diocese of the Rio Grande, I returned to First Unitarian Church. This is when I was introduced to The Industrial Areas Foundation’s local organization, Albuquerque Interfaith, which exemplified how members learned to have a voice in our community. I had the privilege of working part-time in their office, AND, I had the opportunity to learn so much from their lead organizer at the time, Sister Consuela, who was implemental in First Unitarian starting its Montezuma ES afterschool program on our campus. She was also responsible for the Palo Duro Neighborhood’s families having an English as a Second Language Program.
Kim Seidler, Secretary
I grew up in this neighborhood, and after more than twenty years as a city and county planning director in Northern California, returned to it in 2006. I then spent a decade on the faculty of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at UNM, and upon my second retirement, found myself learning about the national village movement and involved in efforts to build this neighborhood organization.
Candy Nartonis, Treasurer
Artist/Curator Candy Nartonis moved to Albuquerque in 2011 with her husband David. After 27 years in Boston's South End, they were ready for more time outdoors and a better source for tortillas. Parkland Village fits her interest in creating community.
As an artist, she is known primarily for printmaking. Her practice also includes sculpture, installation, and painting. Public collections holding her work include the Denver Art Museum; Zimmerli Art Museum; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; University of Maine Art Museum; University of New Mexico Museum; US State Department, and National Art Academy, Hangzhou, China.
Eva Ceskava
When I retired from the ministry in 2011, I returned to Albuquerque, where I had served a church for four years. I had fallen in love with NM on a family vacation in 1988 with my husband and our two teenagers. I've been enchanted and know I'm home.
I grew up in Tulsa, graduated from Oklahoma City University, lived a while in Germany working for the US Army, married a fellow I'd dated in college, returned to Oklahoma, where we raised our son and daughter.
Kati Walker is a sign language interpreter, working for colleges, schools, medical centers, etc., wherever a deaf person needs to communicate with hearing people.
Forrest Walker is a paramedic, currently working for an air ambulance service out of Gallup, although he and his wife live in southwest Colorado. She is a traveling nurse, currently working in Connecticut.
I was diagnosed with macular degeneration 16 years ago, and was forced to stop driving in 2014. Shortly after retiring, I received my third spinal surgery. Many of us of a certain age understand the challenges of aging.
Former activities that I enjoyed-- quilting, knitting, needlepoint, sewing--are being replaced with other joys: bread-baking and pie-making are back in my life.
I continue to be grateful that I can call Albuquerque my home. I also feel lucky to have landed in this particular neighborhood. The warmth and friendliness "on the air" are unique. I served churches in seven states during my career, and the Parkland Village service area is truly unique...and wonderful!
Jay Blackwell
Rose Rohrer
Rose moved to Albuquerque in 2013 and to the Parkland Hills neighborhood in 2016, which she and her partner Justin are happy to call their home. In her free time, she enjoys riding her bike all over Albuquerque, loves to experiment in the kitchen, knits, spins, and crochets, and enjoys hiking and camping across the West.
Rose works at the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research as a research scientist and is most interested in topics related to environmental and social justice.