WFSU Radio Reading Service

Ed Apodaca is a retired high school counselor from Denver, Colorado, who arrived in Tallahassee in April 2000. He's a member of Acting Up Players, a seniors' repertory group. He has played a bit part or two at Tallahassee Little Theater and has also appeared in a couple of FSU Film School productions. He joined the Radio Reading Service in September 2007. Ed enjoys gardening and reading. He graduated with a Masters from the University of Denver where he was an NCAA wrestler. He is married to Mary and the father of three  children with five grandchildren and six great grandchildren. He served three years with the US Army in Stuttgart Germany and three years as an active reservist. Ed enjoys Tallahassee's climate and people, but misses family back in Denver, snow (although less each year), the Denver Broncos, and Mountain Standard Time.

Joe Ashcraft is a 20-year veteran of the Tallahassee Fire Dept. and works as a Lieutenant on Engine 7 in the Killearn area. When not running into burning buildings, Joe shows further good taste and common sense as a bagpipe fanatic. He enjoys Scottish smallpipes and the Great Highland Bagpipes. He has played for 20 years with the Tallahassee Pipe Band and has been the Pipe Major for the past 10 years. This summer he will compete in Glasgow, Scotland, at the World's Games with the Black Thistle Caledonia Pipe Band. Joe has trained many of the local area pipers. Joe began reading piping magazines onto cassette tape for Tom Brown, a blind bagpiper in Bainbridge, Georgia. Soon afterwards Joe learned of the RRS and has been a regular volunteer since 1997. Joe and his wife, Karen, have 2 Boxer dogs that keep them in shape with long walks.

Marva Cockett-Bonner is originally from Hollywood Florida and has been a resident of Tallahassee since 1988. She received both of her degrees (BS in Political Science and Masters of Applied Social Science – Public Administration) from Florida A&M University.  Her hobbies include public speaking, reading, writing blogs, advising youth of her church and playing piano and basketball. Marva has been married to the love of her life, Dexter, for 8 years. They have two children. Marva believes that reading just simply causes us to think above and beyond what we believe. 

Matt Crockett, a native of Alabama, moved to Tallahassee in 2006 to work for the Florida Department of Revenue. In his free time, he enjoys hiking and camping with his wife Ashley and his two dogs, Wilford and Steve. Matt also enjoys building model train sets, painting, playing golf and cheering for the Auburn Tigers. He hopes to take a week to backpack across Glacier National Park in the near future.

Anita Davis was born in the state of Washington 66 years ago. Her father was in the Army so she moved around a bit while growing up. She met and married her husband of 44 years in Alabama. They moved to Florida about 40 years ago. They have two sons. One is a policeman here in Tallahassee. The other is director of a private golf club in Naples, Florida.

Anita is a retired elementary teacher who currently tutors children in her home and mentors first year teachers, helping them through that difficult first year. She loves doing craft projects and is currently into facial soap making, reading, and going to plays, movies and concerts. She raises Gouldian and owl finches. She has a passion for genealogy research.

Ann Gaber is a native of central Ohio and has been living in Tallahassee since 1997.  As the receptionist of the admissions office at Florida State, Ann is often the first person you meet when applying to the University.  Ann is an avid quilter and keeps busy making baby quilts for her grandchildren: 6 and counting.  She lives with her husband Brian and her dog Leela, an adoption from Monticello greyhound rescue (her dog, not her husband).

Bill Holman hails from the "Blues City" Memphis, Tennessee. He earned his undergraduate degree in math from The Citadel and his MBA from Tulane before joining the Air Force. While stationed in Cocoa Beach, Florida, Bill was responsible for radar operations as a range controller for both the Polaris and Apollo programs. His Air Force career also took him to the many down-range tracking sites throughout the Caribbean.

Bill came to Tallahassee as the technical support manager for the super computer project at FSU's Supercomputer Research Institute after working for Control Data Systems for 15 years. Once the supercomputer project at FSU was completed, he spent five years commuting to Rockville, Maryland, to provide support for Control Data's major Federal Programs. In 1995 he joined the State of Florida Department of Revenue where currently he is responsible for legacy applications in Information Systems. Bill has spent over 40 years involved with computers.

Bill has two children and three grandchildren and is an avid golfer. With all of this he still finds time to volunteer for the Radio Reading Service. Next month he will complete eight years as a RRS volunteer.

Alice Kattke is a native of the Tallahassee area.  She and her husband, Andy, returned to Tallahassee after he retired from the NASA Space Shuttle Program. She is a paralegal employed with a real estate title company specializing in reverse mortgages for the elderly. She spends her spare time reading and likes to try her hand at gardening.

Sylvia Livingston is a native of Tallahassee, born the youngest of 5 children. She writes children's stories and is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and the Tallahassee Writers Association where she sits on the board of directors. She has written stories for different area elementary schools and has participated in Share-A-Story at WFSU and the Black History Month celebration at the Leroy Collins Public Library. She is the help desk coordinator at the Department of Environmental Protection Division of Air Resource Management where her duties also include training, and writing software application documentation. Sylvia is an avid bowler and travels to tournaments all over the country. She also sings in her church choir and, of course, volunteers for the Radio Reading Service.

Barbra Pyle is a single mother of two daughters, with four grand-girls. She is a self-employed insurance agent with Faircloth-Pyle Agency of Cotton States Insurance and an adjunct instructor teaching classes in insurance and real estate for Tallahassee Community College. She is also a licensed commercial bus driver who has driven a tour bus for Astro Travel and a Leon County school bus. She graduated from Rickards High School in the first graduating class of 1966 and from Tallahassee Community College and FSU. Barbra keeps busy as a member of Toastmaster International, as choir member, church treasurer and youth group leader of the Woodville United Methodist Church, takes piano lessons, writes poems and songs, and aspires to writing books about her mother's family history on the Island of Newfoundland, Canada. Other aspirations? She says, "I have always dreamed of singing in Nashville."

Chelsea Roberts was raised on the Myakka River in Venice, Florida with her younger sister and many cats. She graduated from Venice High School in 2004 and began her undergraduate studies at Florida State University, thanks to the Florida Academic Scholars and 21st Century Honors Scholarships. She will graduate with a B.A. in Literature in April 2008, ending her collegiate career with a 3.7 GPA. In addition to RRS, Chelsea has volunteered for America Reads, Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society, Environment Florida and March to Stop Global Warming. Her favorite material to read aloud is the editorial section of the Tallahassee Democrat because she gets to add a voice to clever and opinionated writing. After graduation, Chelsea would like to intern for National Public Radio headquarters in Washington D.C. and pursue a career in radio news broadcasting. Her idea of a perfect world includes less television, more solar powered cars, absolute literacy and lots of funding and appreciation for classic and avant-garde literature and music.

Marie Talton moved from Chicago to Florida 25 years ago and has spent the last 16 years living in Monticello and working in Tallahassee. She is a registered nurse and works as a nurse consultant for the Agency for Health Care Administration. The high point of her career was becoming a Flight Nurse in the Air Force Reserve at age 40. She is active in Beta Sigma Phi Sorority, Red Hatters, The Garden Club, and the Radio Reading Service. She enjoys traveling and spending time in their mountain home in Murphy, NC. Because Marie came to the USA from Germany at age 11 and had to learn the English language, reading became a passion for her and opened up a world she wanted to share with others. Earlier she pursued this through The Literacy Program in Monticello and now, fortunately for us, she continues her dedication through the Radio Reading Service.