Riders
Mary & Roger
Some of you know Mary Beata as “Mary” and others know her as “Beata.” After a 27-year career with the 3M Company she retired in 2007. Mary is an advocate for deaf students and, over the last five years, has been a board member of Metro Deaf School – MN North Star Academy, a unique Saint Paul charter school serving deaf and hard-of-hearing student kindergarten through 12th grade. For the past year she has served as board chair helping the school complete a successful merger (elementary and high schools joined together) and build an addition to the school building to accommodate both schools under one roof. Mary also works part-time as pharmacist at a local clinic and serves on the National Advisory Board for North Dakota State University College of Pharmacy. And she’s an avid quilter.
Roger is retired from a career with the State of Minnesota, graduate work and teaching at the University of Minnesota. He enjoys landscaping, especially with native plants and is becoming a Master Gardener. Roger is on the board of the local chapter of Wild Ones – Native Plants and Natural Landscapes where he plans and publicizes monthly programs and an annual conference. He applies his landscaping ideas to three acres of yard, gardens and pine woods south of Stillwater.
Biking, hiking and canoeing are our favorite activities. We’ve bicycled Greece, Italy, Ireland, Scotland, France, Czech Republic and many locales throughout the US. We’ve hiked the Grand Canyon, Hawaii (both with Timberline Adventures) and most recently hiked in the Paria Canyon in southern Utah. Living in Minnesota we’ve canoed much of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and also enjoyed (survived?) a few seasons as serious white water canoeists.
We have spent the last 25 years enjoying active vacations. On our first big date, Roger invited Mary to be his “support team” as he ran Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. Waiting at the finish line with a camera, Mary wasn’t sure what Roger would look like when he appeared—runners having shed several layers of clothing as the day warmed—so we have a nice photo collection of unknown tall bearded men crossing the marathon finish line, plus a photo of Roger.
