Bodie Foundation Board of Trustees
Dr. Dydia DeLyser
President
Dydia comes to the Board with a wealth of Bodie knowledge. She was a maintenance worker in Bodie from 1988 through 1997, when she completed her doctoral dissertation on Bodie. She has volunteered at Bodie since then, continuing to do maintenance work. She has been a Professor of Geography since 1997.
Jon Elliott
Board Vice President
Jon has resided in Bridgeport, California for 52 years. For 33 of those years he has lived and worked on the Hunewill Ranch, which has historic ties to Bodie’s early days, with his wife Betsy Hunewill Elliott and her extended family. As a child, he remembers going to Bodie on a house call with his father, a local physician. Helping to preserve and share the history of the area has always held his interest and he looks forward to continuing doing so with this Board.
Maureen McGlinchy
Treasurer
Beth Olson
Secretary
Kieran Silva Trustee
Josy Pickett Membership Coordinator
An avid outdoors-woman, Beth has been fishing, camping, hiking and riding the Eastern Sierra for over 30 years. She first visited Bodie in the late 1980s and has been fascinated with the history of this area ever since. She travels to the area year-round, and delights in discovering hidden treasures off the main roads while exploring either by horseback or hiking with her Labrador — imagining the stories to be told behind an overgrown abandoned building, or wondering where a dirt road leads, keeps the area fresh and new with each visit. Beth has a B.A. in Political Science/International Relations and has worked in Tourism and Hospitality since 1988 with several resort hotels in Santa Barbara, CA. She has an extensive background in destination marketing, sales, and special event planning.
Jimmy Little
Trustee
Jimmy Little is a dedicated community leader having lived in the community of Bridgeport for more than 20 years. He understands Bodie’s historical significance and its vital necessity today to the communities in Mono County.
He is a local business owner, and having raised four kids near the park, Jimmy understands that Bodie’s legacy is critical to future generations. He will bring his decades of service from his roles on the Mono County Economic Development, Tourism & Film Commission, Bridgeport Regional Advisory Committee, Eastern Sierra Unified and Mono County School boards, and his other volunteer roles in the community to grow the foundation to preserve Bodie for future generations.
Bodie Foundation Staff
Shannon Boniface
Executive Director
Shannon brings a deep personal and professional commitment to Bodie, shaped by her childhood years living there while her father worked for the state parks. Her extensive experience in the non-profit sector—including leading teams, co-founding a small organization, and serving on numerous boards such as the Bodie Foundation—equips her with the skills to advance the preservation and interpretation of Bodie, Mono Lake Tufa State Natural Reserve, and Grover Hot Springs.
Josy, originally from Sweetwater, Nevada, grew up on her family’s cattle ranch on the Nevada/California border between Smith Valley and Bridgeport and spent many summers growing up working in Bridgeport. She currently lives in Smith Valley with her husband and daughter. She spent a few years teaching before transitioning to office work and became the membership coordinator for the Bodie Foundation in 2022. She enjoys meeting all the supportive members of the Foundation as well as exploring all the wonders that Bodie has to offer!
Betty McCunniff
Bodie Lead
Chris Spiller Tour Coordinator/Editor
Kieran was born and raised in Riverside, California, and now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he is working on a master’s degree in landscape architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. His connection to Bodie began with his first job after college, when he worked as a park aide. Before interviewing, he had never even heard of Bodie — and he doesn’t remember applying — but once he arrived, he quickly fell in love with the town, its history, and the people living there. He spent two seasons at the park before moving on to pursue a career in landscape architecture. However, the memories of Bodie have stayed with him. He is honored to be joining the board of trustees of the Bodie Foundation.
His favorite thing about Bodie is the quiet. While it brought him joy to share Bodie with visitors, the hours the park was closed were magical. Breakfast in the Gregory, a jackrabbit out the rear window. The moist air of evenings after a rainstorm. Wood chopped in the long days of summer, burning on a freezing night. He also spent time enjoying the expanse and views of Mono Lake, especially the vista on the first curve down Conway Grade.
Betty McCunniff, office assistant since 2016, will now be the Bodie Lead. Betty first arrived in Bodie for Friends of Bodie Day, 2011. Though she didn’t know it at the time, she was bitten by the Bodie Bug, and returned every summer, first as a volunteer, and then as a Bodie Foundation Staff member. Betty currently is leading tours, working in the museum/bookstore, scheduling photo workshops and private tours, and providing visitor services and information.
Chris Spiller joined the Bodie Foundation in Fall 2015. She guides private tours for the Foundation in Bodie and Mono Lake, helps with social media and publicity, and edits the Foundation’s twice-yearly newsletter for members. She also helps produce the Bodie Foundation’s yearly photo calendar.
She worked for California State Parks from 1997 to 2015, with 15 of those years at Bodie, presenting history talks, school group programs and stamp mill tours. Her state parks career also includes interpretation at Monterey State Historic Park and Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Previously, she worked three seasons with the U.S. Forest Service, presenting natural and cultural history programs in the Mammoth Lakes and Mono Lake regions.