Local author and Hoyt Arboretum neighbor Phyllis Reynolds interviews Hoyt Arboretum’s staff to introduce you to the people who make up Hoyt Arboretum’s team. This week, we’d like to introduce you to Rebekah Golden, Communications Coordinator at Hoyt Arboretum, who started working at the Arboretum in the summer of 2022.
Born near St Paul, Minnesota, Rebekah lived in Minnesota until she was fourteen, when her family moved to Tucson. During the ten years she was in Arizona she went to high school and the University of Arizona, where she got her degree in ecology and environmental biology. She comes from an academic family: her grandfather was a professor of agricultural economics.
Why Portland? Rebekah was looking for a change and became heavily involved with bees, pollination, and apiaries with a business on Sauvie Island. The demise of this business was The Pandemic. Rebekah then applied for and got her present position with the arboretum:
“Bees and Trees!”
Rebekah and her husband, who was her high school sweetheart, live near Mt. Tabor with Clementine, their 15-year-old “terrier mutt” who has one eye, five teeth, and plenty of vigor [what’s with all these golden-oldie dogs owned by Hoyt employees?].
Outside activities include gardening, with a focus on perennials, cooking/baking, and reading lots of science-fiction and now books about trees recommended by Martin. Rebekah and her husband have taken many walks in the arboretum.
What would she do with a magic wand for the arb? She would create a large research facility for all kinds of research necessary to investigate climate change – the trees are there to study, and Rebekah feels they are an underused resource. She would also like to see a canopy walk in Hoyt.
About the Author
Phyllis is a Portland native who has written two books about Portland trees and a history of Hoyt Arboretum. She has a PhD in Clinical Psychology.