2022-2023 WCC Board of Directors Biographies
Becky McIntosh
Becky returned to the Windom neighborhood in 2014 to the house her family has owned for more than 60 years, and is an alumnus of Windom, the former Ramey Jr High School, and Washburn. Her younger daughter, Catherine, lives with her, and her older daughter, Elizabeth, lives in Savage with her husband and adorable 18-month-old daughter. She is retired from the Minneapolis Health Department following a 46-year career in community and public health in the U.S. and internationally. She is active at Mayflower Church, belongs to the Twin Cities Scottish Club, loves to travel (can’t wait to be able to go again), and is in the process of converting her front yard lawn to native plants and grasses. She has served on the Board for a number of years, most of them as treasurer.
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Michelle Hemingway Tatum
Michelle has lived in Windom since 1994 and has been a block club leader for 25 years. Professionally she has worked within community outreach/marketing/medical education departments for Twin Cities’ premier healthcare organizations. Currently, in her Windom Community Council role, Michelle intends to keep the Windom neighborhood a safe and desirable place to live by establishing partnerships within the community and continuing concerted efforts with the City of Minneapolis’ Ward 11 Council Members Office. More recently, as Garfield Avenue block leader, helped lead efforts to hold accountable the owners and potential purchasers and developers of the Aqua Inn and Metro Inn Motels.
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Patricia Soulak
Patricia ‘Pat’ has resided in the Windom neighborhood for over 30 years. She is a founding member of the Windom Community Council, serving as its President for over twenty years. In the 1980’s, when the old Windom school was to shutter its doors forever, Pat, along with a group neighborhood mothers, launched an over $3 million community funding effort to save the school and build a Windom Community Center for neighborhood families, as we know it today.
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Pat is a life-long nurse practitioner and currently works at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis. An avid world traveler, she also ballroom dances semi-professionally; participating in local, regional, and national dance competitions. Above all, Pat is the proud mother of two grown children and a beloved grandmother to Amelia who she adores and enjoys babysitting frequently.
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Patrick Barrett
Patrick moved here from Idaho and has lived in the Windom Neighborhood for 27 years. He has enjoyed serving on the Windom Council for 10 years. His wife Trudy, (who is also a person who is blind like he) also served on the Windom board for several years. Their daughter Raeann, who they adopted at 7 weeks old, lives with them as does their two-year-old granddaughter, Isabella. He works as the Assistant Braille Librarian at State Services for the Blind. Patrick enjoys 70’s R&B and rock, creative writing, barbecuing and Star Trek. Live Long and Prosper!
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Louisa Hext
Louisa has lived, with her three dogs (Asher, Rose and Smoochy), in the Windom Neighborhood for the past five years, previously living in the Longfellow community. Louisa is originally from London, UK, and enjoys spending time with her horse, Babu. She is a skilled and experienced family and civil mediator, speaker, consultant, and coach. As the North American coordinator for the traveling photographic exhibition, Louisa is currently getting ready for The F Word: Stories of Forgiveness (a program of The Forgiveness Project - a London, UK based non-profit). Louisa also serves on The Charter for Compassion’s Global Team and is the ambassador for the Restorative Justice Sector and serves on the Board of Directors of Conflict Resolution Minnesota (CRM).
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Dembo Darboe
My name is Dembo Darboe from The Gambia, West Africa married to Toni Darboe with three children (two boys and a girl) and live at 120 west 59th street, Minneapolis since 2001. I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in economics and worked at the school for the past sixteen years before started my insurance career upon my completing the national examinations for the CPCU Designation. I have my Minnesota producer insurance license on property & casualty, life, health, and accident. I was a past board member for the community and looking forward to the opportunity to serve my community again.
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Rob Ley
After a 30-year career in marketing and advertising agencies, I am semi-retired and work part time for a nonprofit. I have an acquired physical disability. I was a divorced father of three adult children in 2015 when I met my current wife, Dr. Lecia Heinen, who works for the Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs. We plan to live here on Garfield into our retirement years. As a former longtime resident of the Kenny neighborhood, I chose to move to Windom because of its walkability and relative affordability. I have since found that Windom offers much more, including caring, engaged neighbors. My first experience with this came in early 2019 when I helped organize my neighbors to respond to the possibility of the Metro Inn being turned into a five-story, 100-unit apartment building (which never materialized). That positive experience also opened my eyes to the Windom Community Council and its important role in my neighborhood.
I am a former member of the parish council at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church, where I was active on the ISAIAH and Anti-racism core teams. I volunteer at Hennepin Health (formerly HCMC) to give back to the hospital that once saved my life. I’m a delegate at this year’s DFL Convention in Minneapolis. It would be my honor to give back to my neighborhood by serving on the Windom Community Council.
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