Meet our Members
Select the + to expand biographies of members and explorers
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Nick and Laura are excited to join 4th Corner Commons, drawn by the chance to live more intentionally, build strong relationships, and be part of a community where people genuinely support one another.
Nick spent his career as a database administrator, a role that suited his love of clarity, organization, and solving behind-the-scenes puzzles. Earlier in life he was an avid cyclist and racer, and he hopes to ease back into riding at a gentler pace. A lifelong sailor and instructor with San Juan Sailing in Bellingham, he feels most grounded on the water. He’s also a devoted reader with a particular interest in Stoic philosophy, especially Marcus Aurelius. With two grown children and an appreciation for collaborative decision-making, Nick is eager to explore sociocracy as a way communities can thrive.
Laura is an enthusiastic fly fisher who feels most at home in the natural world—wading into rivers, hiking Northwest trails, or sailing with Nick. She has a deep love of the outdoors and the sense of connection it offers. A former speech therapist, she brings warmth, thoughtfulness, and genuine curiosity about others to every interaction. She is the mother of one and grandmother of two, and family remains a joyful center in her life.
What drew them to cohousing is simple: community. Nick and Laura believe life is richer when lived alongside others—sharing meals, conversation, work, and laughter. They’re eager to contribute their skills, support their neighbors, and help build a caring, resilient home at 4th Corner Commons.
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Suze, a Washington native, first came to Bellingham in 1983 to attend Western Washington University. After some bike travel, meeting Don, and a few years in New Jersey, her favorite education turned out to be a vegetarian culinary school in NYC. She spent two decades in the restaurant industry before shifting to bookkeeping for local nonprofits and the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship.
Suze loves knitting, yoga, crafting, gardening, and any other project that lets her work with her hands. Though cooking solo isn’t quite as fun as it once was, she still enjoys cooking with others.
Don grew up in Brooklyn, where community meant everything—neighbors chatting, kids playing in the streets. After teaching high school math and science for many years, he retired and now shares his love of music, leading song circles and bringing music to elder care homes. He also enjoys hiking, biking, reading, and meaningful conversations.
Don and Suze met at a youth hostel in Florida in the late '80s, traveled some together, married in 1993, and welcomed their son Jamie in 1995. They’ve been creating strong community ties ever since—and are excited to continue that journey with 4th Corner Commons!
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Carol and Vicki currently live in a nearly 100 year old home just six blocks from their future home at 4th Corner Commons. They’ve both lived in group houses in the past and look forward to living in cohousing where resources can be easily shared.
Carol has spent the last many years as a facilities planning coordinator for the Whatcom County Library System, where she handles space planning, furnishings, and renovations—natural extensions of her lifelong experience in building and construction. She’s also spent decades immersed in the arts, especially costumes, masks, and giant street puppets. Her superpower is connecting unlikely things—whether that’s people, ideas, or the perfect scrap of tinsel that suddenly becomes the missing sparkle.
Vicki’s life has been anything but linear: she left college at 19 to hitchhike through Europe and the Middle East and over the years attended six different colleges. She has taught gentle yoga, and spent nine years as a hospice nurse. She’s committed to living lightly on the planet—biking for errands, buying nothing new, and filling her free time with dance, outdoor swims, gardening, woodworking, crafting, book groups, and naturalist organizations.
Both Carol and Vicki are drawn to 4CC for the shared resources, the mutual support, and the chance to grow in community. They value kindness, communication, and the opportunity to soften the edges of life by learning from and caring for one another. As a couple with different needs, they’re excited by how a larger community can help everyone thrive.
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Adventure, community, and service have guided our lives from the start. Kate left Maryland at 18, exploring college before finding her path in communal living, horticulture, and eventually nursing. Andy left West Virginia at 17 for the Air Force Academy, beginning a 22-year career before becoming a professor of engineering and physics at WVU Parkersburg.
We met in 1990 at a Unitarian Universalist Society in Marietta, Ohio. Friendship (and love) grew through shared service and community work, eventually blossoming into a life together full of adventures including building a thriving orchard in Ohio with 7,000 apple, 500 peach, and 200 cherry trees, a move to Portland OR, a later move back to the NE to be near family, and not most recently joining 4CC.
With five grown children across the U.S. and Canada, this next chapter in Bellingham feels like coming home. With a goal of paying our many blessings forward we look forward to sharing companionship, resilience, time and talents with others, especially our new 4CC community.
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We two met in an elementary school orchestra, but did not become an item until years later. As part of an extended courtship, we hitchhiked to Alaska and climbed in the Bugaboos and Yosemite. At one point we taught English – and got married – in Japan. On separate adventures we each made wine in France, and together we still make Washington wine each year with friends. In 1985 we moved from Berkeley to Seattle to earn Bill’s UW physics PhD, and happily settled down in the Pacific Northwest. Our occupations have always entailed working with teams – as a technical manager (Emily) or as a scientist (Bill). Through our individual and shared experiences, we discovered that true progress is rooted in collaboration.
Whenever possible, Emily likes volunteering, hiking, keeping up with book clubs, and traveling. Growing up in a household with 11 siblings, Emily’s immediate relatives are now scattered around the country and internationally, so she takes the opportunity to visit diverse locations. Bill engages in weekly Zoom discussions with an international collaboration proposing an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland to search for hypothesized long-lived particles, which could provide insight into the nature of Dark Matter.
Our daughter, who lives in Toronto, delighted us with a grandson this year, and we look forward to her family visits to Bellingham.
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Hi there! I’m a lifelong Nashvillian, born and raised right in the heart of Music City. Other than leaving for college and spending a short time working in Knoxville, Nashville has always been home. I grew up an only child of divorced parents, and aside from the occasional trip to Florida or the mountains, I didn’t travel much as a kid. That all changed after college—one visit to the Pacific Northwest in the mid-90s, and I was completely hooked. I knew someday I wanted to live there.
I studied civil engineering at Georgia Tech and later earned a graduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin. After a brief stint in engineering, I made a big career pivot and became a high school teacher. I spent 15 years at a public magnet school downtown and another 11 at a private school in the suburbs, mostly teaching Algebra 2, Calculus, and computer science. I loved working with teenagers, but after decades in the classroom, I was ready for a new chapter. I retired this past May and am enjoying a little breathing room while I figure out what’s next.
Outside of work, I’m happiest outdoors—hiking, biking, fly-fishing, kayaking, and playing pickleball. I also love good food with friends, great books, museums, Broadway shows, traveling, new tech, puzzles, and playing bridge. And I share my home with two “failed foster” cats, Axl and Stella.
A couple of years ago, I visited a friend living in a cohousing community, which opened my eyes to what intentional community can be. Discovering 4th Corner Commons in Bellingham felt like finding exactly the kind of supportive, sustainable community I hope to be part of next.
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What brings me here is a hope to find people who value mutual respect, shared effort, and the kind of daily connection that makes life feel a little less isolated. I grew up an only child and spent plenty of time on my own—it never bothered me much. But after a few major life chapters—a move, a divorce, two wonderful kids now grown—I’ve realized that solitude has lost some of its charm. The idea of cohousing suddenly felt… really appealing.
Friends have teased me: “So you want to move in with a bunch of boomers?” or “What if you don’t get along—how do you break up with a community?” Fair questions! But my dog, Soleil, gave me a look that clearly said, “Mom, I can’t be your whole social life.” So here I am.
As a therapist, I’m well aware that loneliness can be as harmful as smoking a pack a day. Maybe this is my attempt to practice what I preach—choosing connection for my own well-being and for the health of a future community.
I’ve lived in a handful of places around the world, love cooking and traveling, and hope to try Survivor someday. Until then, you’ll find me hiking, mushroom foraging, reading anything except technical manuals, or watching Nordic noir.
If you’d like to share a bit of orbit with me—through meals, conversations, chores, or laughter—I’d love that. Cohousing feels like the perfect place to build something real, warm, and a little beautifully messy life together.
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Michael and Ann have called Bellingham home since 1984. They have three grown kids, all with wonderful partners, and two adorable grandkids—Gemmie (19 months), who lives just two blocks away, and brand-new baby Jules in San Francisco. (Michael insists both grandkids are far cuter than their grandpa!)
Ann grew up in Washington’s Tri-Cities before heading to Syracuse University, where she first got interested in cooperative housing—and met Michael while organizing a rally. She spent her career teaching early childhood and special education, with a lifelong passion for social justice.
Michael grew up in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara before moving east for grad school in special education. After working in Philly and Syracuse (and falling for Ann), he eventually found his way with Ann to Bellingham.
Both retired—Ann from kindergarten teaching and Michael from managing special education programs—they’ve poured their energy into community work. Ann focuses on immigrant and refugee support, choirs, and helping unhoused neighbors. Michael’s been deep in local activism, animal rescue work, and political organizing.
They love Bellingham’s spirit and are excited about building even more community through cohousing.
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I grew up in Bellingham and just moved back last year and I love it here! I have lived in several places, but they were all missing something.
Hiking at Mt Baker is my happy place. More often, I walk in the wonderful parks and trails around town. Occasionally I cross-country ski, kayak, or bike. I love reading and book groups, including one at Village Books, our fabulous local bookstore. I enjoy exploring Bellingham and trying out new things. Art walks and contra dance are some recent favorites. People often move to Bellingham when they fall in love with the beautiful setting, fun community, and great quality of life. There are many groups for meeting new people, exploring the outdoors, or finding interesting events happening in and around Bellingham.
I have been interested in cohousing for years. During the pandemic, I realized how important community is for me and decided I wanted to live in cohousing. I have explored a couple of other cohousing groups elsewhere, but decided that living in Bellingham was equally important to me. I was happy to learn about 4th Corner Commons and to join this new cohousing community in the hometown that I so love.
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Susan and John first met in a friend’s kitchen in San Francisco back in 1973—and they’ve been friends and adventurers ever since. They married ten years later and built lives full of curiosity, creativity, and community.
Susan started as a freelance editor for publishers like Harper & Row before joining the University of California Natural Reserve System, coordinating publications for over 40 protected lands. John moved from social work into electronics, eventually managing purchases for microcontrollers that monitored the power grid. After decades of work, they retired and dove into the Great Dickens Christmas Fair, bringing history to life—Susan as Scottish painter Jemima Blackburn, John as Admiral William Acland Hood.
In 2019, a vacation to the San Juan Islands turned into an impulse move to Bellingham, Washington—a long-held dream for Susan and a promise John was excited to keep. The pandemic made for quiet beginnings, with walks in Whatcom Falls Park and new friendships slowly growing. Susan launched Friends With Ukes, connecting local musicians and fostering community.
Both are passionate about music—ukulele, banjolele, cajon, and chorus—and share interests in painting, writing (Susan’s novel WHY YOU MUST), dancing, gardening, and travel. After decades exploring the world and history together, they are now embracing a new adventure: living fully in community in with 4CC.
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Currently living in Northern California, Karen is looking forward to moving to Bellingham when her 4th Corner Commons’ home is built.
Karen has lived in Holland, Ireland, England, and Germany, leading the building and integration of communications infrastructure projects. She was raised in Mississippi and knows/loves many southern food traditions. Karen really likes to cook and bring people together with hospitality. There are so many amazing ways to prepare food, and everyone has their food secrets!
An avid camper, hiker, and outdoorsy type, she doesn’t mind a bit of rain, snow and mud in the pursuit of a nice walk in the woods. Of course she drives a Subaru (but wants to car share!) Also a noted bookworm and introvert, there is nothing quite like a steaming cup of tea and an engaging story. Museums and ancient history fascinate her and she’s currently reading about military logistics.
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For the past 38 years, we’ve lived on 5 acres north east of Bellingham. Here, Mike farmed organic vegetables and poultry and we raised our three children, while Kim worked as a Med-Surge nurse at Peace Health hospital. Now two years retired, Mike “farms” a small plot for us and our kids, with the surplus donated to the food bank. He’s also plays guitar and keeps the bird feeders full. Kim has made a steady commitment to the League of Women Voters and perfecting her sourdough bread. And in the comfort of our new teardrop trailer, we are exploring our backyard of western North America, with recent trips to SE Oregon and B.C., Canada.
As much as we’ve loved our country home, we felt ready for change: to live in town, within easy reach, if not walking distance, of our kids, shopping, and the activities that we love in Bellingham. Then, in September 2025, we heard about 4th Corner Commons and were quickly won over by its fabulous location near the heart of Bellingham and the promise of vibrant and engaging community living.
Living in an intentional community devoted to shared activities and mutual support appeals to us, and as we’ve gotten to better know the other community members involved, we’ve grown quite excited by the opportunities and lifestyle of cohousing. We expect that life at 4th Corner Commons will be engaging, occasionally challenging, and richly rewarding, shared with thoughtful and responsible folks committed to the mutual success of the community. We’ll all be growing older, of course, but doing so in a rich and supportive community.