Stonington Historical Society Elects New Directors

Information via Stonington Historical Society

STONINGTON, CT — The members of the Stonington Historical Society unanimously elected four new directors to their board of directors at the 126th Annual Meeting on July 18th. Dodie Bump, Melanie Cava, Nakai Northup, and Tom Sanford, bring a wealth of experience to their new roles including museum education, fundraising and development, finance, Native American history, and preservation.

Dodie Bump has been a frequent visitor to Stonington before moving in 2015 after retiring from the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Charitable Hospital Foundation where she was director of communications for eleven years. Ms. Bump has been an active volunteer in several local organizations including the Stonington Village Improvement Association, the Stonington Free Library, and the Stonington Garden Club. She is a graduate of Pomona College and recently received the college's Alumni Distinguished Service Award.

Melanie Cava is an ardent preservationist and is originally from southeastern Connecticut. She and her husband, Dr. Todd Drevo, have been restoring their Salt Acres estate in Stonington. While other potential buyers of the property had considered tearing down and rebuilding the original home, they have committed to its restoration. Previous projects undertaken by Ms. Cava include the restoration of a Captain’s house on Gravel Street in Mystic where they worked closely with the Mystic River Historical Society. In Pasadena, California, they spent ten years restoring a George Washington Smith home. Smith was an American architect who is particularly noted for his work in California popularizing the Spanish Colonial Revival style in the early 20th century.

Nakai Northup, a member of both the Narragansett and Mashantucket Pequot tribes, is a museum educator at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and has more than ten years of experience teaching eastern woodland tribal history. Northup has spent his entire life in his Native communities and is passionate about preserving tribal histories and traditions for future generations. He also serves as a vice-chair for the Mashantucket Pequot Natural Resource Committee.

Tom Sanford was born in Bronxville, NY, and graduated from Columbia University. In 1968 he received a commission from the U.S. Navy and would spend several years in Viet Nam. He holds an MBA from the Columbia Business School and his career includes posts in London and New York. Since retiring in 2001, Sanford has served as the Stonington Borough Tax Collector and on a number of local nonprofit boards. These include the YMCA, Calvary Church, and the Stonington Men's Group.

"We are so excited to welcome our new directors to the board,” says Frances Ashley, President of the Historical Society’s Board of Directors. “I look forward to working closely with them as we continue to further the mission of the Historical Society.”