BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Elberta Labor Heritage Center was founded in December 2021 by a group of people that love Elberta and want to help preserve her history and heritage. If you love Elberta too, we hope you’ll join us!
DAVID BEATON - CHAIR
Dave fell in love with Elberta and her history when he bought the old railroad boarding house in the Fall of 2019. He fell in love with radio when he was a board op in college. He booked a punk club in Michigan, worked as a shipping clerk for Alligator Records in Chicago, deejayed at Phyllis’s Musical Inn, owned and ran Leo’s Lunch Room and started a video production company before moving to Florida to take care of his grandmother. He taught film at Manatee Community College, co-founded WSLR+Fogartyville in Sarasota, Florida.
MARK CARLIN - SECRETARY
Mark Carlin Mark and Carol Carlin of Ferndale and Frankfort own and operate the Elberta Mercantile in a restored mid-century brick building, where one person’s old junk can become someone else’s new treasure. Mark, 32 years an auditor, retired from the State of Michigan in 2010. The Carlins have spent summers and some winters in Frankfort since 1990.
PAUL MAY - SECRETARY
Paul was born on a dairy farm in Dorr County, Wisconsin. His grandfather was a grass-fed dairy farmer before anyone knew what that was. He farmed with horses and had 8 kids during the depression. Paul moved to Benzie County, Michigan when he was in third grade. His father captained boats on the Great Lakes. When his dad started he was the youngest man on the Great Lakes with a Master’s license. His mother raised 4 kids. Paul’s parents divorced and his father moved to Alaska and won the Iditarod race in 1980 with Paul’s lead dogs. Returning to Benzie County in 1994, Paul bought the home next door to where he grew up which had been a farm. Shortly after his son was born, he started keeping goats and chickens on the property on Adams Road. Demand for clean food raised locally quickly grew Paul leased a pasture nearby to expand his operation. Paul now raises grass-fed beef – working to build soils through management-intensive grazing. At the May Farm, Paul also makes a high-temperature, stable bio-char made from all clean-source diverted waste (wood material, native brush). The carbon footprint of everything has been a factor in his decision-making from the beginning.