Meet the Spirit in the Desert staff and board of directors. We are here to serve you. Please contact any one of us if you have a question or concern.
Lead Facilitator, Healing of Memories
Graciela Marroquin
Graciela Marroquin enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 18 in 1992, beginning as a plane captain. In 2003 Marroquin transferred into the Army National Guard, and in 2004 served a tour in Baghdad, Iraq, as a combat-medic and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After serving 14 years in the military, she returned to her civilian job at a community mental health agency, while earning her Master’s Degree in Social Work. She now resides in Tempe, AZ where…
Devotional Writer
Steve Holm
Each year, Steve Holm enthusiastically plays more than 100 rounds of golf and writes more than 400 inspiring daily devotionals. Steve is a retired Lutheran pastor and lives in Tempe, Arizona. He is the author of Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center’s popular DAILY MEDITATIONS which are available 365 days a year by email and at www.spiritinthedesert.org. He is also the author of the popular Advent and Lenten meditationbooklets published by Spirit in the Desert since 2008. Golf is one…
Lead Facilitator, Healing of Memories
Lori Rubenstein
After starting her career as a successful family law attorney, Lori Rubenstein, JD, PCC, came to the understanding that the well-being of divorced families was clearly not the task of the legal system. She realized that she was like a square peg trying to fit into a round hole as a divorce attorney. Instead, she chose to follow her own mission – empowering people to heal from their relationship wounds, eventually becoming a certified coach. While seeking that goal, she learned…
Retreat Leader, Legacy Workshop
Mary Price Dunn
Mary Price Dunn is founder of The Legacy Workshop. She is passionate about leading transformational conversations that bridge the spiritual dimensions of life with the practical. As a distinguished leader in the nonprofit sector, Mary has pioneered programs to engage people – just as they are – in courageous and hopeful change. While serving as CEO of a charitable foundation, she developed a groundbreaking, grassroots initiative to help people build stronger, healthier communities in the rural towns and villages of…
Director
Paula Sturgeon
A place where the Spirit dances. Paula was a young girl when she and her parents drove north from their home in Scottsdale, Arizona to eat at the International Restaurant in Carefree. She remembers the exotic middle eastern food served in what is now the Estrem building of Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center. At the time, she had no way of knowing the restaurant was going to become a major church-sponsored retreat center, and, years later, she would be…
Vice Chair
Doug Yock
Broadening the Reach of This Exceptional Place Doug Yock, M.D., was elected to the Board of Directors of Spirit in the Desertin 2018, bringing his leadership experience from healthcare to the retreatcenter. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Medical School andcompleted internship and residency at Stanford University and fellowship atthe University of California San Francisco. Prior to retirement, Dr. Yockpracticed neuroradiology at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis,where he directed Magnetic Resonance Imaging and led the development of the neuroscience…
Director
David Wilder
An Opportunity to Help Others David Wilder first became acquainted with Spirit in the Desert Retreat Centerwhen he met the late Richard Anderson, who at the time was its ExecutiveDirector. Richard learned David was an insurance broker and asked him tostraighten out the center’s insurance program. David made helpfulrecommendations and Richard knew he would be a valuable member on Spiritin the Desert’s Board of Directors. He was appointed to the Board in late 2019. After listening to Richard describe Spirit…
Director
Nola Mellstrom
Networking to Grow Spirit in the Desert Nola Mellstrom was appointed to the Board of Directors in 2018, bringing her management and people skills from her nursing career to Spirit in the Desert.She grew up in the small town of Roseau, Minnesota near the Canadian border, a town well-known for its youth hockey programs. Nola attended St. Olaf College for two years and completed her nursing degree at Minneapolis General Hospital. Because of her wide range of nursing experience including,…
Director
Suki Kisling
Empowering Women Suki Kisling’s zeal for empowering women continues to find many opportunities. She lived in Las Vegas for 28 years where she opened her ownfinancial planning practice. Some of her clients were widows who were at aloss to manage finances. Some had never written a check or paid a householdbill. Suki was there for them with support and education. She said, “Teachingwomen to become independent became a passion. This passion combined withmy Christian faith became the focus of a…
Secretary
Julie Yates
An International Perspective Julie Yates has managed commercial real estate properties in the UnitedStates and London. After living and working in London for fifteen years,Julie and her husband Steve moved back to Arizona in 2015 and becamere-acquainted with Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center. She said, “Weloved living in London and experiencing the perspective of aninternational community.” In 1993, the Lutheran Church was given facilities and land in Carefreethat had been the International Restaurant and the Adobe Inn. Julie,because of…
Spirited Book Club, Retreat Facilitator
Sheri Brown
Sheri Brown is a retired special education teacher, news reporter, and video producer who has written liturgy, poems, and reflections for nearly 15 years. Her writing has been described as “sometimes raw but always real,” and as a “fresh perspective on old words”. Her writings, when she writes, are distributed to an email group under the heading, From the Edge of the Inside. (The reason for that obtuse self-descriptor became clear when she learned she is a healthy 4 during an…
Retreat Leader, Legacy Workshop
Alanna Mack
Alanna Mack is retired from a highly successful practice as a tax CPA. In her work with clients on estate and trust tax matters, she found that surviving spouses often feel unprepared to face new – and unexpected – financial responsibilities and realities. Helping clients understand and manage their finances after the loss of a loved one became a specialty for Alanna. She also has served on exempt organization boards and finance committees, most recently the Franciscan Renewal Center and the…