Dolly Fernandez, Denver Service Center Chief of Contracting Services, will retire on December 31st after 29 years of federal service, eight years of that with the NPS.

Dolly began her federal career as a contract specialist with the U.S. Air Force in San Antonio, Texas. After 11 years, she and her husband moved to Colorado where she was able to work for the U.S. Air Force at Lowry Air Force Base. She then took a position as a regional acquisition executive for General Services Administration in Denver.

In 2003 Dolly accepted the position to be the Chief of the Contracting Services Division for the Denver Service Center. In this position, she has managed the largest contracting staff in the NPS. During her time managing the Contracting Services Division at DSC, the office has had three times its typical workload due to Recovery Act funding. In addition, the office has handled nearly 50 contracts and agreements for the Elwha River Restoration at Olympic National Park.

“Working for the NPS has been the capstone of my career. In my opinion, the Park Service has the best mission of the federal agencies, and I’ve enjoyed the challenging, interesting, and fun work I’ve done here – and the great people I’ve had the immense pleasure to work with,” said Dolly.

In her retirement, Dolly plans to spend time with her three children and five grandchildren who all live in Texas, and visit her husband’s family in Spain. She also plans to do a lot of volunteer work and put her bilingual skills to good use.

“I will miss our team at DSC. I’m proud of the teamwork that has been built within DSC and with our customers,” said Dolly.

Jannette Wesley, technical information specialist with the Denver Service Center’s Information Management Division, will be retiring on December 31st after 34 years of federal service.

Jannette began her federal career as a library technician with the U.S Geological Survey in Denver. In 1984 she accepted a position with the NPS as a librarian for the then Rocky Mountain Regional Office. In 1992, the Denver-based NPS library was moved to the Denver Service Center, and she transferred with it.

The highlight of her career has been the completion of the new records retention schedule for the entire NPS. The new records management schedule is significantly different from the previous schedule, with a new focus on keeping series together (e.g project files), making the schedule easier to update, simplifying the retention periods, and including all media in the administrative records. The new retention schedule was approved by the National Archives and Records Administration in January 2010, and is currently being implemented.

“I will miss all of the people I’ve worked with and the friendships I’ve made. The Service is full of great people who genuinely care about others,” said Jannette. “I’ve also been blessed to have a generous supervisor who has supported my participation on national level projects.”

In her retirement, Jannette plans to spend time with her family, travel, volunteer for local parks and botanical gardens, and pursue her hobbies of bird-watching and botany.

Ed Nieto is retiring on December 31st following 35 years with the National Park Service. He is currently an architect and illumination specialist for DSC’s Design and Construction Technical Branch.

As senior architect and technical specialist he has provided state of the art technical/professional skills and knowledge on a wide range of assigned projects and special assignments throughout the national park system. He is a sustaining member of the Illuminating Engineering Society.

Ed began his career at the Denver Service Center in 1975 and after eight years took a position with United Airlines as a project architect at their executive offices in Chicago. After a year, he resigned from that position to return to the NPS because of his passion and love for national parks and the privilege of designing facilities that would be enjoyed by millions of visitors.

During his career Ed has designed a variety of visitor centers, environmental learning centers, the new gatehouses at the White House, and administration facilities throughout the national park system. He also designed the interior lighting for Independence Hall, the Lyndon B. Johnson Visitor Center Museum, the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site, and numerous park facilities.

Major lighting retrofit projects include the Museum of Westward Expansion at the Jefferson Expansion Memorial, the museum at Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, the museum at Women’s Rights National Historical Park, the Rose Garden and the exterior of the White House.

Ed’s design philosophy has always been “climate-sensitive design achieved within a minimalist aesthetic and with timeless building solutions. Park facilities must be of simple design, highest quality, durable, energy-efficient, and easy and cost effective to maintain—simple elegance!”

Ed has been involved with numerous planning efforts, including the comprehensive design plan for President’s Park, and has provided international park planning assistance to officials in Panama, Nicaragua, Chile, and Tanzania. He is proudest of his international accomplishments, instilling pride of culture and awareness of sustainability in the communities he’s assisted.

In addition, Ed serves as the NPS liaison with Musco Lighting with their Best Lighting Practices Grant for the NPS. He has been involved with the re-lighting of major developed areas within Big Bend National Park, achieving 95% efficiency and totally protecting the dark sky, the Washington Monument, and the exterior of the White House.

He is grateful to have worked for the Denver Service Center all of these years because of the opportunities it has given him to work in parks coast-to-coast and beyond—some of the projects he has enjoyed most have been in Tanzania, Guam, Saipan, and American Samoa.

Ed has received many awards throughout his career, most recently, Ed received a Star Award from Pacific West Region for his work in helping with the interior and lighting design for their new office building.

“The people I’ve gotten to work with have been some of the most fantastic professionals and people I’ve ever met. It’s been wonderful to build relationships and collaborate with colleagues in the field,“ said Ed.

In his retirement Ed plans to stay in Denver and continue to pursue lighting design. He is looking forward to this season of his life and the adventures it holds.

After more than 36 years of federal government service, Jan Morris has announced that she will be retiring on December 31st. Janet is a contracting officer for DSC's Contracting Services Division.

Janet began her career as an intern with the U.S. Marine Corps at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. As part of the program, she was placed immediately following her high school graduation in a procurement office in 1973. In 1983, she took a contracting position with the U.S. Navy in Charleston, South Carolina. It was in that position that she first traveled to Colorado in 1997. She knew right away that Colorado is where she wanted to live.

In 1999 she got the chance when she was offered a contract specialist position with the NPS. She loaded up her car and headed west. She worked for the Denver Service Center until 2003, when she took a position with the WASO Contracting and Procurement Office, also located in Denver.

It was there that she was encouraged to finish the bachelors degree that she had begun at Limestone College in South Carolina. Raising two children and working full-time, she was able to complete her degree online, and graduated with a bachelor of business administration in 2006. She then came back to the Denver Service Center as a contracting officer in 2007.

One of her most memorable projects was providing contracting services for the reopening of the crown of the Statue of Liberty in 2009.

“I will miss the people who work for the NPS and the many projects I was able to work on. I have traveled to the most breath-taking places in the United States, places I would have never seen otherwise,” said Janet.

Janet plans to stay in Colorado in her retirement, and is excited about what the future holds for her. Janet has two adult children, a son in Denver and a daughter who lives in Los Angeles.

After more than 34 years with the National Park Service, Joe Crystal will be retiring on December 3rd from the Denver Service Center.

Joe’s interest in the National Park Service began when he was a research assistant at the University of Massachusetts in 1975. While working toward a master's degree in landscape architecture, Joe conducted a design evaluation study of visitor centers for the Denver Service Center and traveled to twelve centers throughout the national park system.

Impressed by park resources and the NPS esprit de corps, once he graduated, he knew he wanted to work for the National Park Service. In 1977, he got the chance when he was selected to work at the Denver Service Center for the Branch of Design North Atlantic/Mid-Atlantic Team.

Although his position titles and descriptions have changed throughout his career, his passion for landscape architecture and the projects he has worked on have not. One of his career highlights was working on the restoration of the Jimmy Carter Boyhood Farm, which was dedicated in November 2000, and part of the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site. This project was subsequently featured on the cover of Landscape Architecture Magazine. During the project he enjoyed working directly with former President and First Lady Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

Other career highlights include international technical assistance trips for the NPS Office of International Affairs and the DOI International Technical Assistance Program. He has twice traveled to Morocco, first as part of a planning team to create a master plan for a new national park in 1987, and again recently to do a LEED presentation for Ministry of Tourism.

In 1990 also as a planning team member, he spent time in India helping to create a master plan for a new national heritage park for the Ministries of Tourism and Archeology.

“The NPS has been an incredible experience for me,” he says. “I certainly have been places and done things that were not on my radar screen as a child, teenager, or young adult. I will miss the people and the projects of the NPS.”

In 1999, Joe was inducted as a fellow in the American Society of Landscape Architects, and served on the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board from 2000 to 2006, serving as its chair for three of those years.

In his retirement, Joe plans to remain in the Denver area with his wife of 38 years, Jane. He plans to enjoy spending time in the mountains, playing classical guitar, writing, working on house projects, and substitute teaching for Denver Public Schools.

“It has been a constant sense of fulfillment to be able to contribute in some small way to the preservation and management of many of the best places on earth—and having done so without making someone else rich, but enriching many lives,” reflected Joe.

Ron Bailey, Denver Service Center Contracting Services Division branch chief, will be retiring from the NPS on November 30th after 30 years of federal service.

Ron’s career included more than nine years with the NPS, three years with the Bureau of Land Management, 14 years with various Department of Defense Agencies (including the Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defense Logistics Agency, and TRICARE Management Activity), and four years as a missile systems analyst in the United States Air Force.

Ron will be moving with his wife Norma to their new retirement home in Grand Junction, Colorado. He is looking forward to many days fishing on the lakes of Grand Mesa, riding ATVs, golfing, skiing, traveling, enjoying his three children and four grandchildren, and just plain old relaxing.

The Denver Service Center Planning Division, along with the Washington Chief of Planning and representatives from the Northeast and Midwest Regions, has selected Nancy Shock as the center’s new foundation coordinator.

This is a four-year position tasked with the Servicewide goal of completing a foundation document for each park unit by the 100th anniversary of the NPS in 2016. The NPS will be working to complete 30 to 40 foundations annually to achieve this goal. Nancy will work with planning teams from regions, parks, WASO, and the DSC Planning Division.

“Nancy Shock is an outstanding selection for this position. Her positive energy and strategic vision and work application are invaluable assets. Nancy’s listening and motivational skills spell success for this director’s initiative for the planning program,” said Patrick Gregerson, NPS Chief of Planning.

Nancy was most recently the acting branch chief for the Publications Branch and GIS program lead for the Planning Division. She has a 31-year career in resource management focusing on planning and GIS. Her accomplishments within the NPS include developing web-based mapping services for the DSC Planning Division and Intermountain Region's GIS programs, leading planning efforts for the GIS analysis of public comments, contributing as a member of the DSC Planning Division management team, facilitating expansion of the use of GIS in transportation and design activities, and acting as the Intermountain GIS coordinator for three years.

Nancy has also worked for the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Camp Dresser & McKee, and PTI Environmental Services.

June McMillen, writer/editor in Denver Service Center's Planning Division, is retiring on September 30th. June has more than 32 years of government service, 25 of them with the National Park Service.

June chose her career path at the age of 11 when she was sitting with her family at an evening campfire program at Yellowstone National Park. She listened to a ranger talk about the wonders of Yellowstone, and felt the excitement in the audience around her. “That’s when I decided I wanted to be a ranger,” said June.

She started her career on the South Rim at Grand Canyon National Park as an intern with the Student Conservation Association, and then returned as a seasonal. She worked as an interpreter at Zion National Park, Cedar Breaks National Monument, Valley Forge National Historical Park, and Shenandoah National Park. She also worked at the Midwest Regional Office and at two national forests, the Monongahela and the Humbolt-Toiyabe. “I like to try new things,” she explains. June joined the Denver Service Center in October 2006.

“I had the best job on the planet—I was an interpreter with the National Park Service. I got to live and work in amazing places and everyday I had a chance to connect people to the world around them. It doesn’t get any better than that! I am so fortunate to have had this incredible career,” said June.

June says her immediate plans are to renovate her home so her mother can move in with her. Then she will set her sights on “the next new thing,” yet to be identified.

Denver Service Center Contracting Officer Fred Brooke is retiring on September 30. Fred has more than 34 years of contracting experience, 6 years of that with the National Park Service.

Fred held various contracting positions within private industry for more than 28 years. His experience includes aerospace, environmental, telecommunications, and construction contracting. He joined the National Park Service Denver Service Center in June 2004, after learning of an open position at a National Contract Management Association meeting.

“I have worked for many companies, large and small, but I have been so impressed with the people of the NPS. Their backgrounds and passion for the mission make them some of the best people I’ve worked with,” said Fred.

In his retirement Fred plans to move to a larger home in Colorado to make room for guests and his two adult children and their families to visit. Fred will spend his time travelling and enjoying his hobbies, such as reading, writing, painting, hiking, and golf.

Greg Tweed will be retiring on September 30th following 38 years of NPS service. Greg is a project specialist (civil engineer) for Denver Service Center’s Design and Construction Division (Western Branch).

Greg began his career at Yellowstone National Park in 1971 as a student engineer. The following summer he worked in a student position atthe newly-formed Denver Service Center, and during the summer of 1973 was assigned back to Yellowstone National Park. Then Greg accepted a permanent position as a civil engineer at Denver Service Center in 1974.

Greg worked on many projects in many parks including Dinosaur National Monument, Scottsbluff National Monument, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, Colorado National Monument, Grand Teton National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Fossil Butte National Monument, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Cane River National Historic Site, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Zion National Park.

Greg has witnessed many DSC reorganizations, but DSC’s reinvention in 1995 resulted in a new purpose for DSC and a new job title for Greg—project specialist. As a project specialist, Greg worked on projects in Bryce Canyon National Park, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and Chiricahua National Monument.

“I found every project that I was assigned to be very unique and challenging,” he says. “This alone made me anxious to come to work, but the thing I will miss the most are the friends I made while working with the people at DSC and at the parks.”

Greg will continue to live in Lakewood, Colorado, in his retirement and enjoy spending time with his wife and two adult children. An avid Rockies fan, Greg will still maintain a game package that allows him to attend several Rockies games each season. He and his wife, Emily, plan to take many weekend trips around scenic Colorado and plan to visit many local national parks. In his spare time, Greg plans to rebuild an old computer for his daughter.

Bob Felker, Denver Service Center’s senior field landscape architect, is retiring on September 3rd. Bob is duty stationed at Natchez Trace Parkway.

Bob started his career with the National Park Service as a summer student in 1970 at the Eastern Office of Design and Construction (Eastern Service Center). He moved to Denver Service Center in January 1972 and worked primarily on design and planning projects in the southwest and southeast, including projects at Capitol Reef NP, Canyon De Chelly NM, Carl Sandburg Home NHS, Vicksburg NMP, Fort Caroline NM, Fort Frederica NM, Abraham Lincoln Birthplace NHP, Gulf Islands NS, and Blue Ridge Parkway. Bob also had the opportunity to work in the northeast at Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS and Johnstown Flood NM.

In 1977, Bob was transferred to the construction branch and moved to Asheville, North Carolina,and the Blue Ridge Parkway. He worked on design and construction projects at the Great Smoky Mountains NP, Blue Ridge Parkway, Foothills Parkway and Cowpens NB. He was at Blue Ridge Parkway when the Lynn Cove Viaduct project began, oversaw the construction of the Folk Art Center in the Asheville area, and worked on the design of the Grandfather Mountain trail system.

In 1983, Bob moved to Natchez Trace Parkway, where he oversaw the completion of the northern terminus, the southern terminus and the Jackson, Mississippi, portions of the parkway, which ultimately was completed in 2005. Recently he has been overseeing construction of the Jackson area multi-use trail, helping to define the detailing that will establish its character and set an example for other major communities the parkway travels through.

While at Natchez Trace Parkway, Bob also worked extensively on and along the tour roads at Vicksburg and Shiloh NMP, as well as at Stones River NB where the tour road is being extensively revised.

Over the past 6 years, Bob has also provided on-site training for a number of less experienced DSC landscape architects. Many of these professional credited Bob’s abilities as some of the finest, and most practical “hands-on” training they’ve received.

“I can truthfully say that I've been blessed to work with great people who mentored me early in my career, with great folks at all the parks in which I’ve worked, and with very professional, very cooperative and very patient folks at Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division who put up with a wet behind the ears ‘green’ as-they-come landscape architect,” he says. “They answered myriad questions about construction, ultimately providing me with the knowledge I needed to hopefully make our construction projects user friendly, visually attractive and very well constructed.”

Plans and details for a retirement gathering for Bob will be sent out by the Natchez Trace Parkway superintendent’s office.

We congratulate Bob and thank him for his commitment to the National Park Service over his 40+ year career. We wish him well in retirement.

Susan Walsh has joined DSC information management as the new employee development specialist. Her duties as the training coordinator include planning, developing, managing and evaluating the training and development programs for Denver Service Center. She will also track employee requirements for mandatory training related to project management and contract administration. Susan began her new position on July 5th.

Susan comes from DSC design and construction on the Eastern Team, where she was a project manager for various projects at Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and Arlington House and Theodore Roosevelt Memorial, part of George Washington Memorial Parkway in Arlington, Virginia.

Prior to joining NPS in 2007, Susan managed design and construction projects for a school district, several university campuses, and the University Hospital campus in Colorado. Her varied career includes working as an architect in the private sector and five years with the Denver City/County Planning Office.

Susan is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED™ accredited professional and a registered architect in the State of Colorado. She holds a bachelor of science in architectural studies from the University of Nebraska and a master of architecture from the University of Colorado at Denver.

After more than 30 years of federal service, Greg Loosmore retired on July 1st.

Greg was a project specialist/electrical engineer in the eastern branch of the Denver Service Center (DSC) Design and Construction Division.

Greg worked as an electrical engineer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for four years before joining the National Park Service in 1984. He worked as an electrical engineer in the design branch of the Eastern and Central Teams at the Denver Service Center, and one year in the DSC Contracting Services Division.

Greg said that he'll miss working for the National Park Service and interacting with the parks. He plans to continue residing in Colorado.

We wish Greg well in retirement.

Jan Harris, Denver Service Center Planning Division Branch Chief, will retire on June 30 after 30 years with the National Park Service.

Prior to moving to Colorado, Jan was the Planning Chief for Missouri State Parks. Jan began her career with the NPS in 1979 as a seasonal planner for the Denver Service Center on the Midwest/Rocky Mountain team. She worked a couple of years as a public involvement consultant before coming back to the National Park Service as a planner before becoming a Planning Division Branch Chief in 2001.

“I've really enjoyed the people I’ve worked with both in the Denver Service Center and in the parks. We’ve got a great planning staff that will continue to help park managers make tough management decisions in the future,” said Jan.

Jan is an outdoor enthusiast and recently injured her shoulder while training on a dirt bike for a 2,000 mile breast-cancer fundraiser in Alaska. She is looking forward to a full recovery from surgery so she and her husband can continue riding motorcycles, scuba diving, and skiing. Jan and her husband will also spend time visiting their family, one daughter who lives in Philadelphia and a daughter and son-in-law residing in San Diego. She plans to take art and cooking classes in her free time and exploring the world.

A celebration in Jan’s honor is being planned for August, after she is fully recovered from shoulder surgery. Details to follow.

Barbara Harris, Denver Service Center management analyst, will retire on June 3rd after more than 33 years with the National Park Service.

Barb began her career as a clerk stenographer in the Denver Service Center personnel office when she was 20 years old. She then moved throughout DSC, holding administrative positions with the design and construction division, technical information center, and information management division. Since 2008, Barb has worked for the DSC director as a management analyst.

Barb says that leaving the Denver Service Center is bittersweet because she will miss the wonderful people that she has spent most of her life working with everyday.

"The NPS really is like a big family. It's been a wonderful place to work and learn. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work here," said Barb.

Barb and her husband of 35 years, Mark, are retiring on the same day and are looking forward to welcoming their first grandchild, who will be born in Alaska this summer. They plan to continue to live in Arvada, Colorado, but will surely spend much of their time in Alaska. Barb and Mark are also planning to spend time more time with their parents, volunteer at church and the elementary school where their local daughter teaches, and enjoy hiking and cycling on Colorado's beautiful trails.

Richard Marshall will be retiring on April 29th after almost 36 years with Denver Service Center.

While a student at the University of Michigan, Richard saw a flyer to work for the concessioner at Yellowstone National Park for the summer and ended up spending the summer of 1971 working there, his first experience in a national park. As a result of that experience, Richard decided that working for the National Park Service and living in national parks would be the ultimate job.

When he graduated with a degree in civil engineering, Richard was hired with the Denver Service Center on a temporary appointment, duty-stationed in Ozark National Scenic Riverways. In 1976, Richard was hired as a permanent project supervisor with Denver Service Center, and worked on park-specific projects, duty-stationed at each park for the duration of the project. He supervised projects at John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Crater Lake National Park, Olympic National Park, Mount Rainer National Park, Haleakala National Park and Yosemite National Park before leaving the NPS for a private sector job in South Carolina.

Richard returned to the Denver Service Center in 1986, specializing in creating operation and maintenance manuals for use by park staff. In 1998 he became a project manager in the western division, working on projects mostly in Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

"The people who work for the Park Service believe in the mission. It is great to be around people who are passionate about the special places the Park Service protects. Working with others who are highly motivated makes the job fun," said Richard.

Richard and his wife Cindy plan to travel abroad and within the U.S. during their retirement, but will continue to live in a southwest suburb of Denver. Richard plans to enjoy hiking and running on the trails around his home, gardening, reading history, collecting stamps, and pursuing other interests.

Ken began his federal career in 1975 as an engineer with the Bureau of Reclamation in Denver, working in the construction specifications branch. In 1993, Ken accepted a position with Denver Service Center as the head of the former specification development branch. Eventually, he moved into a project management position, managing design and construction projects for parks in the Southwest.

The highlights of Ken's career include projects at Tumacacori National Historical Park, Big Bend National Park, Saguaro National Park, Big Thicket National Preserve, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Bandelier National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Site, Tonto National Monument, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Chiricahua National Monument, and Glacier National Park. Ken prides himself on spending extra time in parks getting to know the resources and the staff.

"Project management is all about serving the parks, getting to know the resource, and doing everything you can to make projects run smoothly," said Ken. "The most satisfying thing about this job is how grateful park staff and visitors are for a project completed well. It makes all of the challenges worthwhile."

Ken and his wife Patt, who also recently retired, plan to keep their home in Conifer, Colorado, but plan to spend much of their time travelling. Ken will also work to accomplish his lifelong goals: to visit every NPS unit and play golf in every state of the union.