Board and Officers
Board and Officers
Officers
David Ezra Sidran, President
Ezra Sidran is a Midwesterner. Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Sidran studied photography and graphic design at the age of fifteen at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A year later he transferred to the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he studied typography, history and medieval economics. During this time Sidran became a sideman, playing piano in numerous bands that were headquartered out of Madison. Eventually, a two-week booking at the infamous Yankee Clipper in Rock Island, Illinois became a three-year 'house gig' and Sidran permanently relocated to the Quad Cities. In 1985 Sidran received a B. A. in computer animation from Marycrest College (the first accredited institution to offer a degree in this field). While still an undergraduate, he began work on his first computer game, UMS: The Universal Military Simulator, which he licensed to the British company TelecomSoft. Within six months it was the #1 selling computer game in England. Over the next fifteen years Sidran wrote numerous computer games including Designasaurus, UMS II: Nations at War, The War College, Jack the Ripper and Londoner. In 2005 and 2009 Sidran received Masters and Ph. D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Iowa. His research area is Artificial Intelligence for simulations and games.
Regena Trant Schantz, Treasurer
Regena Trant Schantz earned a B.A. in English at Western Illinois University in 1969 and a M.A. in American studies at the University of Iowa in 1991. Her M.A. thesis was entitled: "The Davenport House and Family on Rock Island." She has worked at Old Capitol Museum, Iowa City, and taught in adult education programs for Black Hawk College, Scott Community College, and the Davenport Schools. She has taught a variety of courses in early community history in the St. Ambrose University's CommUniversity Program. Schantz was one of the founding members of the Colonel Davenport Historical Foundation (CDHF). She held every office on its board during her fifteen years of service and initiated a number of programs for CDHF outreach. Her research on George Davenport has been used for publicity and guide training. She also mentors young historians in research methods and speaks to local organizations on the Davenport House and Family. Recently she contributed a chapter on Fort Armstrong in Frontier Forts of Iowa (University of Iowa Press, 2009), and is one of the authors of Echoes from Riverside Cemetery, Moline, Illinois, published by Heritage Documentaries, Inc., 2009. Her book on George Davenport, The Trader at Rock Island George Davenport and the Founding of the Quad Cities is now in print. She is currently working on the story of Russel Farnham, “the man who walked around the world.”
Hedy Hustedde, Secretary
Hedy N.R. Hustedde grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a B.A. in English, lived in Des Moines for three years, in Germany for 4 years, and in Davenport since 1982. She earned a Master’s In Library Science from the University of Iowa and worked at the Bettendorf Public Library primarily as an Information Librarian for over thirty years. While with the Library, she was the liaison for three book discussion groups and organized many author visits and poetry readings, as well as initiated a number of historical, cultural and social issues programs. She loved being the director of big, multi-faceted projects which were often funded by grants. She retired in September 2017. She and her husband Michael have been and continue to be very involved in the Quad-Cities community over the years, particularly with the German American Heritage Center, the Scott County Historic Preservation Society, River Action, Blackhawk Hikers, and several more book discussion groups (among them, River Action Environmental Book Club and Figge Museum Art Lovers Book Club).
Board of Directors
Christopher Mandle
Christopher Mandle is from Rock Island, Illinois, where he lives with his wife, Kristen, and children, Blake, Grant, Jude, Stella, and Quinn. He earned his B.A. degrees in Graphic Design and Theology from St. Ambrose University in 2004, as well as his M.A. in Theology from St. Ambrose in 2006. That may seem like an odd combination of degrees, but they have served him well in his efforts in the community. Chris is deeply involved in the Quad Cities community and participates in various organizations and events. He enjoys taking on leadership positions and learning about the history of the organizations he's a part of. Chris has served several positions within the Davenport Jaycees including Chairman of the Board, President, and VP of Marketing and PR. He has been a member of the St. Ambrose Wine Festival as the Event Management Chair for the past 11 years as part of the efforts to raise money for scholarships. Chris also takes great joy in being involved within church organizations at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Rock Island, where he can combine his interest in theology with volunteer efforts. Since 2004, he has been the owner and creative lead at Mandle Design, Inc., a graphic design and marketing firm. He is pleased to be a part of Heritage Documentaries, Inc. where he can assist in the sharing of the great history of our area.
Dennis Moran
Dennis Moran is in the fourth generation of a family rooted in Rock Island, Illinois. He was graduated from Alleman High School and earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Southern Illinois University. He has spent most of his working career as a journalist with a keen interest in historical topics. From 1988 to 1996, he was a staff writer for the Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus. Beginning in 1996 Moran lived for four years in the Czech Republic working as chief copy editor and assistant news editor for the English-language Prague Post. From 2001 to 2008 he was a writer and editor for newspapers in Santa Barbara and Monterey, California. Then he spent five years as senior writer/editor for geography at ABC-CLIO, a Santa Barbara company that provides a suite of social studies websites used in high schools and universities. Since May 2014, Moran has been back in the Quad Cities working as a freelance writer, covering local issues, government, and other topics for the Moline Dispatch/Rock Island Argus and North Scott Press.
Coky Powers
Colleen (Coky) Powers is a Davenport native. She earned her BA in Elementary Education from Marycrest College and Masters degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa. As a school librarian, she taught at St. Paul the Apostle School and Cody Elementary School in the Pleasant Valley School District. She serves on the Board of the Scott County Historic Preservation Society as historic researcher, is a volunteer at Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Davenport Public Library, and holds memberships in the Rock Island County Historical Society, the German American Heritage Center, the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society, the Iowa Antique Bottleers, the Quad City Archaeology Society and the Davenport City Cemetery Partnership. Learning and sharing local history is her passion.
Tarah Sipes
Tarah Sipes was born and raised in Mercer County, just south of the Quad Cities. She currently lives in Rock Island with her family. Sipes holds a B.A. degree from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, and a M.A. degree in Public History from the University of Illinois Springfield. During her studies Sipes discovered a love of primary source research and interpreting information to make it understandable to a wider audience. Tarah has a deep interest in local history and looks forward to sharing local and regional history with a larger public through work with Heritage Documentaries.
Former Board Members
Curtis C. Roseman was a native of Moline, who passed away in 2021. Curtis C. Roseman received a B. A. degree from Augustana College and a Ph. D. from the University of Iowa (1969), both in geography. He was Professor Emeritus of Geography at the University of Southern California, having been on the faculty at the University of Illinois (1969-1985) and USC (1985-2004). He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship for research in New Zealand in 1989, and was selected as the 2005 Distinguished Scholar by the Ethnic Geography Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers. Curt's most recent research and writing focused on the historical geography of the Upper Mississippi River region and of Los Angeles, along with local history projects in the Quad City area. He was active with a group of volunteers who organize the annual Quad Cities Henry Farnam Dinner, which celebrates local and regional history and he regularly conducted historical-geographical walking tours of both downtown Los Angeles and downtown Moline (Illinois).
Elizabeth Roseman, along with her husband, Curt Roseman, was a founder of Heritage Documentaries, Inc. and served on the board as secretary until her retirement in 2016.
Ferrel E. Anderson retired as chemist at the US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity at Rock Island Arsenal. Co-founded the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology and founded the Quad City Archaeology Society. Ferrel was a board member from 2008-2014.
Faye Clow retired director of the Bettendorf Public Library, 2010-2011. Faye passed away on February 18, 2011. She will be greatly missed by the Heritage board, the Bettendorf Public Library, where she served as director for many years, and by the community as a whole. Heritage Documentaries has made a contribution in her name to the Bettendorf Public Library. More information about Faye's life and "Faye's Field" can be found here.
Timothy J. Murphy clinical psychologist specializing in substance abuse treatment, 2007-2015.
Maxine Russman, Education Consultant, Rock Island Regional Office of Education, 2007-2010.
Scott Tunnicliff, Program Director of the Davenport Hilltop Campus Village, 2010-2011.
David T. Coopman, former teacher and author of numerous local history books, 2007-2014.
Sarah James Childers, teacher and activist who has worked for many years as a historical researcher and consultant for Dakota tribes 2013-2016.
Diann Moore, a former high school history teacher and historic preservation activist 2010-2017.
Anna Greene, a video photographer, writer, and editor 2011-2016
Ronald W. Deiss, District Archeologist, and District Historian and Native American Tribal Coordinator, in the Economic and Environmental Analysis Branch, Planning, Programs and Project Management Division, of the Rock Island District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Joe Taylor was a native of Hampton, Illinois, and began his career in journalism as a reporter and editor for the Times Record (Aledo, Illinois) and as a reporter for the Muscatine (Iowa) Journal. He began his career in tourism at the Galesburg and Clinton tourism bureaus and was President of the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau from 1998 until 2018. He served on the board of Heritage Documentaries from 2019 until his unexpected death in December 2020.
