Board of Directors
Angela Fochesato, Executive Director
Thelma Beal, President | Ellsworth
Thelma Beal, born and raised in Ellsworth. She was the owner of Port-of-Call Seafood Market from 1975 to 1986. She went to work for Hannaford in ’86 as a department manager and was there for the next 27 years.
Myrna Coffin, Vice President | Hancock
Myrna Coffin is a retired English teacher. Myrna lives in Hancock with her husband, Stephen, a retired English teacher, also. Myrna serves as President of the Hancock County Retired Teachers Association as well as the VP of the Hancock Historical Society. She also does volunteer work for the HGS backpack program.
Kathleen Cravens, Secretary | Ellsworth
Kathleen moved to Ellsworth 27 years ago from Alaska, where she worked as a nurse in a remote Eskimo Village. Upon moving to Ellsworth, she initially worked part-time as a med-surg. nurse at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital. While raising her family she worked at Kid’s Peace as a nurse before returning to MCMH in 2007 to work in the Mary Dow Center as an oncology nurse; a position she currently holds. She was honored to be asked to be on the Board of Directors for her true nursing passion in caring for oncology patients. She and her husband Bob live in Ellsworth. They have three grown children.
Nancy B. Owen, Treasurer | Ellsworth
Nancy has worked at the Machias Savings Bank in Ellsworth for over nine years and has been in banking for more than twenty-two. She has been on the Board for five years. Nancy lost her husband to melanoma cancer in January 2008. She credits the Beth C. Wright Resource Center for its support in time of family crisis and for its continuing help.
Nancy Anne Beal | Beals Island
For over 40 years, Nancy has lived in the tight-knit island community where Beth grew up. Her daughter was friends and classmates with Beth from the age of 3 and was at her bedside when she passed in 2000. A 1962 graduate of Vassar College, Nancy has been a freelance journalist since 1970 and a self-employed title abstractor since 1992. She has lost a son-in-law to bone cancer and her husband, Ossie, to lung cancer in 2003.
Nancye Files | Blue Hill
Nancye is a biomedical marketing consultant with extensive industry experience in the research and diagnostic markets with leading-edge technologies for cell identification and analysis in immunology, oncology, and genetics. Previously she worked in academic research immunology at Harvard Medical School, Rockefeller University, and the Swiss Cancer Research Institute. She received her degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Lorna Greene | Addison
Lorna is a native of Addison where she resides with her husband Peter. They have five grown children and eleven grandchildren. Their youngest son was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when he was twenty and he has been cancer-free for the past ten years. Lorna is the principal at the Daniel W. Merritt School in Addison where she previously taught kindergarten, second grade, and fourth grade. Lorna’s loves are family, children, and education.
Rebekah Hodgson | Jonesboro
Rebekah Hodgson was born and raised in Jonesboro, graduated from Washington Academy in 2007, and earned in 2016 a degree in business and entrepreneurship at the University of Maine Machias. She is married, lives in Jonesboro, and has a three-year-old daughter. Rebekah has dug clams all her life and also lobsters.
Patricia C. Jordan | Ellsworth
Pat is a former teacher and served for many years as Assistant Director of the Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce. After three cancer experiences, Pat has been actively involved with the Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center and the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
John Lewandowski | Deer Isle
John Lewandowski was born and raised in Hancock county and spent the last decade living in California. He spent several years working in the public school system helping to provide art programs in underfunded schools. In 2009 his focus shifted to energy efficiency, specifically energy use reduction through home retrofitting. He was the owner of Kevel Home Performance in San Francisco until this spring when he decided to move back to Maine with his wife, Jenny Bishop of Mount Desert Island.
Brandy Marchetti | Ellsworth
Brandy has worked for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust since 2014 in the Enterprise Risk Management Department. She was born and raised in Central Maine but moved to the Hancock County area in 2014. She is the Event Lead for Hancock County Relay for Life with the American Cancer Society. Brandy has had personal experiences with cancer through family members being afflicted with this disease. Therefore, Brandy remains committed to doing anything that makes a difference to find a cure for this terrible disease.
Haley Strout | Harrington
Haley Strout is a life-long resident of down east Maine, currently residing in Harrington with her husband and three children. As a niece of Beth Wright, she grew up hearing inspiring stories of Beth and her vision to help others. Haley is eager to help continue the work that her Aunt Beth started 20 years ago. Haley is a registered nurse, currently pursuing her Master of Nursing to become an FNP.
Kayla Thompson | Harrington
Kayla Thompson is a Washington County resident and is passionate about improving the lives of those who also reside in DownEast, Maine. She has her Bachelor of Social Work and is currently pursuing her Master of Social Work degree at the University of Maine, where she works as a graduate research assistant. As Beth Charczynski Wright’s niece, she has been a volunteer and a part of the Beth C. Wright Walk For Life for years. The mission of the center has always been ingrained in her by her family.
Molly Collins, MD, Emerita | Lamoine
Molly is a general surgeon with a special interest in breast disease. She received her medical degree from Albany Medical College and completed her medical training at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. She began medical practice in Ellsworth and Blue Hill over fifteen years ago and serves on the staff of Blue Hill Memorial Hospital and Maine Coast Memorial Hospital. She is one of the founders of the Beth C. Wright Cancer Resource Center.
Donna Fricke, Ph.D., Emerita | Hancock
Donna is a career educator, professor emerita from Maine Maritime Academy where she taught in the Arts and Science Department and administered the graduate program in Maritime Management and International Business. Donna has served on several state government task forces and was one of five directors of the Maine Port Authority. She has been a humanist scholar at the Maine Humanities Council since 1985. Donna is a cancer survivor.
Meredith Friend, Emerita | Ellsworth