The board members of Patronato San Xavier

Fr. Gregory P. Adolf is a priest of the Diocese of Tucson and represents Bishop Kicanas on the Board of Directors. He is pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church in Sierra Vista, Ariz., and has been a member of the Board for 15 years.

Fr. Stephen Barnufsky is an ex oficio member of the board and is pastor of San Xavier Mission. He has been a Franciscan priest since 1976, and has experience in pastoral and administrative ministries.

Laura Brown and her husband, Arch, arrived in Tucson soon after their marriage and have been contributing members to the Tucson community for more than 25 years. Laura has been intimately involved with both the Nature Conservancy and the Humane Society. She is immediate past president of the board of the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

David Carter came to Tucson in 1959. He studied at the University of Arizona and at Oxford. He has been a reporter, editor and columnist and since 1983 has built and renovated homes in the Barrio Libre.

Michael Chihak, a seventh-generation Tucsonan, is editor and publisher of the Gannett Corporation-owned Tucson Citizen. A journalism graduate from the University of Arizona, he returned to Tucson in 2000 to assume his present duties. He has recently served as President of the Advisory Board for the University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. He also has facilitated donations from the Gannett Foundation to the Patronato.

Dawn Cole, an award-winning Television Producer whose programs aired nationally on PBS, is a longtime Tucson resident and has served on numerous community boards.

Natalie Davis came to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona. "At age 19, I borrowed a bicycle and rode out to see San Xavier Mission and fell in love, never dreaming that I would eventually be part of its resurrection." She has been on the board since 1991 and served as treasurer until 2006. She recorded Patronato's finances through some very lean times. In 2007, she was named treasurer emeritus.

Patty Doerr was born in Tucson and has been a community volunteer for the past 35 years. She is the founder/director of the Summer Fine Arts Program for children. She graduated from De Pauw University with a bachelor's degree and from Northern Arizona University with a master's in Education.

Lorraine Drachman, native Arizonan, devoted member of the Patronato; and, for more than 12 years, director of fundraising for the preservation of Mission San Xavier.

Ann B. Fallon has a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in Fine Arts from Milwaukee-Downer College. She also studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She's a primary sponsor of the San Xavier Christmas Concerts.

Elizabeth Firkins, a community volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and the Community Food Bank as well as the Mission, is a fifth generation Tucsonan. Her great grandfather was a well-known carpenter who spent many years doing work at the Mission. The small side doors are examples of his work.

Bernard L. Fontana, Ph.D., Patronato board secretary emeritus, is a former ethnologist in the Arizona State Museum who retired in 1992 as Field Representative in the University of Arizona Library. He is one of the founders of the Patronato San Xavier.

Fred Frelinghuysen has lived in Tucson for more than 20 years. He has served on the boards of the Tucson Botanical Gardens, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and the University of Arizona Library.

Folklorist Jim Griffith spent his professional life studying the traditional art forms of this border country. He is the author of several books and for many years had a weekly spot on KUAT-TV. He is cofounder of the well-known local "Tucson Meet Yourself" festival.

Kathy Hard is a second-generation Arizonan, born in Ft. Defiance. She is the fourth generation of her family to live in Arizona. A long-time volunteer, she has served on the state board of the Arizona Historical Society and the board of St. Luke's in the Desert.

Patricia O'Rielly Pettis, Patronato Vice President and an eighth generation Tucsonan, graduated from Tucson Senior High School and the University of Arizona. Among her interests are SAAF (Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation), Tohono Chul Park, The Nature Conservancy, Southern Arizona Humane Society, Handi-Dogs and the Empire Ranch Foundation.

Jim Pyers, Patronato board president, is a nearly sixty year resident of Tucson and retired Vice President from Tucson Electric Power Company with a long history of community service. Past volunteer roles with The Pima Council on Aging, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, United Way of Tucson, Habitat for Humanity, The Beacon Foundation, The Community Food Bank, and Tucson Electric Power Company Community Action Team and many other groups in the Tucson region. Jim's hobbies include golf, motorcycle riding and leadership mentoring for young men and women with senior executive management goals.

Clague Van Slyke, connected to the law firm of Snell & Wilmer L.L.P., is the immediate past president of the board. He is a member of the Pima County Bar Association and the State Bar of Arizona. A member of several community education boards, he is also sits on the Tucson Performing Arts Center Action Committee and the First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ 100 year anniversary committee.

Bob Vint, an ex officio member of the Patronato board, is the project's architect. He earned a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Arizona in 1982 and established Vint & Associates in 1993. In addition to his work on the Mission's preservation, his projects include the San Xavier Mission School, the Tohono O'odham Elders' Center at San Xavier District and the ceramic tile Gila monster sculptures at the Irvington Road bridge on the Santa Cruz River.

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