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Please help us reduce impaired, distracted and all dangerous driving crashes.

Give to Forget Me Not Mission, Inc.





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Board of Directors


Nancy Bidwell - Director
Nancy Bidwell, Director.   Nancy Bidwell was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, and came to Alaska in 1950 with her Air Force family.  Nancy spent over 58 years in Anchorage, graduating from West High School and attending Anchorage Community College, where she majored in commercial art and design.  She graduated from UAA with a degree in Computer Science and managed several businesses out of her home in Anchorage, including Anchorage Babysitting Referral Service, CB Radio Novelties, A-1 Engraving and The Mad Hatter Hat Shop.  She worked as a district manager for the Anchorage Daily News for several years before taking a job with the Anchorage School District as the Parent Resource Coordinator.  While there, Nancy started the Readers Are Leaders Reading Program at Taku Elementary School.  She worked for the Alaska State Troopers for several years and retired from the State of Alaska in 2002 before founding Forget Me Not Mission with her husband, Royal.  In 1983, Nancy lost her 17-year old daughter,
Shelly Reed, to a drunk driver, which prompted her and Royal to start a non-profit organization to help other victims of drunk driving.


Royal Bidwell - Business Manager
Royal Bidwell, Business Manager.   Royal was born and raised in northwestern Oregon and served his country in the U.S. Army from 1962-1965.  He attended the University of Alaska in Fairbanks before taking a job with Yukon Supply Company in 1967.  The company became Amfac Supply in 1972, and Royal became the manager until 1979 when he started his own residential construction company.  In 1983, Royal opened a branch for Familian Northwest, a plumbing and heating, industrial pipe, valve and fitting wholesale supply house and managed it for the next 19 years.  He retired from Familian in 2002, and went to work as the Construction Projects Coordinator for the Greater Fairbanks Community Hospital Foundation.  Following his retirement in 2006, he and his charming wife Nancy hit the road with the Forget Me Not Mission.


Mina Freeman - Treasurer
Mina Barzel-Freeman , Treasurer.   Mina works as a criminal justice technician for the State of Alaska and the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.  She's a mother of four and grandmother of six (and counting), and an avid traveler, reader and boot-camper.  In addition to her work with Forget Me Not Mission, Mina volunteers with several community organizations including the Alaska Cancer Society, Abused Women's Aid in Crisis and ACTS.




Paul Honeman - Secretary
Paul Honeman, Secretary.   Paul Honeman is a 33-year Eastside resident with a lifetime of public service.  A graduate of Bartlett High School, he served 6 years in the U.S. Army as a Combat Engineer before beginning his 23-year career with the Anchorage Police Department.  He also spent two years with the Federal Protective Services as a Federal Police Officer.  Since 2004, Paul has served as a coordinator for the APD Citizen's Police Academy and Committee Member for the Anchorage Police Citizens Academy Alumni Association.  He was also a board member for the Fraternal Order of the Alaska State Troopers and currently sits on the Anchorage Assembly.


Colleen Oefelein - Chairman
Colleen Oefelein, Chairman.   Colleen moved to Alaska in 2008 after retiring from the Air Force.  She was born and raised in Pennsylvania's Steeler Country and graduated from Penn State with degrees in Chemical Engineering and German.  Colleen works as a dispatcher for Alaska State Troopers and together with her husband, founded Adventure Write--an Alaska-based freelance writing business, which designs websites, produces off-the-wall adventure stories, encourages young writers and supports community organizations like Forget Me Not Mission.



Bill Oefelein - Board Member
Bill Oefelein , Board Member.   Alaska's Astronaut, Bill Oefelein, returned to Alaska in 2008 after retiring from the US Navy.  He graduated from West High and studied at UAA before finishing his Electrical Engineering degree at Oregon State University.  A Naval Aviator and Astronaut Pilot, he's logged over 5000 hours in over 60 types of aircraft, including over 200 carrier-arrested landings, over 300 hours in Space as the pilot of the Space Shuttle Discovery and 500 hours bush-piloting in Alaska.  When he was 17 years old, Billy O was hit by an Anchorage drunk driver, who sped off and left him lying in the road, unconscious and bleeding with a partially severed leg.  He's honored to support Forget Me Not Mission as a guest speaker at schools and community events.


Lori Tipton - Board Member
Lori Tipton , Board Member.   Lori was born and raised in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and came to Alaska in 2007 seeking adventure.  She's a Realtor with Prudential Jack White/Vista Real Estate in Anchorage, but is most familiar to her fellow Alaskans as a former reporter and weekend anchor for Channel 2 News.  It was during her time there that she met the Bidwells and learned about Forget Me Not Mission.  When she was a teenager, one of Lori's close friends was killed in a vehicle accident that involved drunk driving, so the Mission's goal hit close to home.  When she's not working, she enjoys writing fiction, digital photography and exploring the great outdoors.


Darcie Salmon - Board Member
Darcie Salmon, Board Member.   Darcie has been a resident of Alaska for over 32 years.  He worked as a real estate broker and licensee for 28 years, was the Mayor of the Mat-Su Borough and is currently serving on the Mat-Su Borough Assembly.  Darcie has served on the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, the Mat-Su Community Transport Board, and he was the founding president of the Mat-Su RC&D/Ardor (Resource Conservation and Development).  He is currently the president of the local RC&D, Vice President of the Pacific Rim RC&D, and he sits on the National Board of RC&D's as a director.  In 1997, Darcie was hit by an impaired driver.  He spent many months in the hospital, in a wheelchair, and on crutches.  He is pleased and proud to be a director for Forget Me Not Mission and wishes to enhance awareness of the epidemic of impaired driving.


Jennifer Messick - Board Member
Jennifer Messick, Municipality of Anchorage DUI Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor.