Our Board
Mike Block
Mike joined the board in the Spring of 2024. Mike has been a resident of Longmeadow for the past 15 years, and a lifelong resident of Western Massachusetts. Mike is interested in Longmeadow’s history and stories, particularly from the early days of the town.
Mike serves as the Technology Administrator for the Longmeadow Historical Society and continues to use his technical skills to seamlessly blend technology and history for the Longmeadow Historical Society.
Contact Mike: mike.block@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Tim Casey
Tim Casey joined the Board in 2020 and finds areas of history interesting that relate to slavery in Longmeadow, housing discrimination in the town and the “Street Car Suburb” era.
He currently serves as the Technology Administrator, and is responsible for executing the vision of our website committee for both the relaunch of our website in 2022 and assisting members of the committee in adding new content to our website going forward.
Contact Tim: timothy.casey@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Melissa M. Cybulski
Melissa M. Cybulski has been a board member since 2017. She currently serves as vice president of the board and editor of the weekly History Notes series. A former high school English teacher, Melissa currently works as a museum guide at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst. She enjoys researching and writing about the lives of early Longmeadow residents, especially those whose stories have previously been overlooked - particularly women, children, and the enslaved. She is currently working on researching and writing a fictional children’s book inspired by Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman’s years growing up in Longmeadow.
Contact Melissa: melissa.cybulski@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Laurie Hatch
Laurie Hatch has served on the board since 2010, though she has been involved with Historical Society activities for more than 30 years. Laurie is a lifelong resident of Longmeadow, as were her father and his ancestors before him. Laurie brought several decades worth of experience helping to organize the Historical Society's Long Meddowe Days into her work organizing the Long Meddowe Fall Festival in October 2022.
Contact Laurie: laurhatch@aol.com
Beth Hoff
Beth Hoff joined the Board in 2015. She is interested in Longmeadow architecture, land use history, paupers and indigency, equity as well as the colonial period and the 19th century in Longmeadow. She frequently researches and writes History Notes articles.
Contact Beth: beth.hoff@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
David Marinelli
David Marinelli has been on the Board since 2021 and currently serves as treasurer. He is interested in Longmeadow’s tree canopy, Longmeadow’s transition from agriculture to housing, and John Chapman (known as Johnny Appleseed). Dave is very involved with “all things trees” in Longmeadow.
Contact Dave: dmarinel@comcast.net
Al McKee
Al McKee joined the board in 2013 and is the current president of the Longmeadow Historical Society. Over the past 40 years he has found the study of history to have been very important to him. Though his professional life has been in medicine, much of his time not devoted to medicine or family has involved historical pursuits with his wife including the study of New England material culture and society. This has included collecting antiques, working on their old house, genealogical research, and gravestone studies. He is particularly interested in telling history through the stories of local residents -especially the stories of individuals whose stories are often not easily found in the historical record.
Contact Al: al.mckee@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Betsy McKee
Betsy McKee has served on the Board more than once. The first time was from 2003-2008. The second began in 2013 and she currently serves as Secretary. She researches and writes for History Notes and finds the following topics of great interest: genealogy, gravestones (carvers, stories, art), weaving, collections (furniture, ceramics, primary sources, textiles), and architecture. Betsy's interest in history was sparked at an early age by her mother who was interested in genealogy. Their combined research led to DAR membership and a lasting interest in searching for ancestors. Al and Betsy started out married life with hand-me-down antique furniture and that sparked an interest in antiques. Betsy retired from nursing, and she has worked at Historic Deerfield since 2007.
Contact Betsy: betsy.mckee@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Lenny Shaker
Lenny Shaker joined the Board in 2022 and considers himself a “newbie” who is interested in all types of Longmeadow history. He has jumped right into researching and writing posts for the History Notes. His wide ranging interests have included topics such as Longmeadow’s Shrinking Boundaries, Mansions of Bay Path University, Turner Park, Longmeadow’s Medal of Honor winner, former Governor Furcolo, and Longmeadow’s Physician From Kyiv.
Contact Lenny: lenny.shaker@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Andrea Taupier
Andrea Taupier has been on the Board since 2016. She is interested in the combination of the historical architecture of the houses on the National Register of Historic Places and serves on the Longmeadow Historic District Commission. She enjoys sharing stories not only about the architecture but also about the people who lived in these homes. Andrea continues to give tours of the houses around the Town Green at events as well as on demand. She is also interested in digitization of collections and preservation of original materials currently located in the Storrs House Museum Archives.
Contact Andrea: andrea.taupier@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org
Becky Vitkauskas
Becky Vitkauskas has been on the Board since 2021 and is interested in building better representation of marginalized and underrepresented groups as well as transitions and relationships between Longmeadow and neighboring communities. She managed a grant-funded virtual program series called Hidden Voices of History in collaboration with Storrs Library.
Contact Becky: bvitkauskas@longmeadowhistoricalsociety.org