By BERNADETTE LARITZEN
Los Alamos Living Treasures
When my dear friend, Pauline Powell Schneider ran the senior center for almost 18 years, I offered to capture the stories of our community seniors, if they ever needed help.
Last year, I was thrilled when the Los Alamos Living Treasures Board asked me to assist. This year, I was honored that they asked a second time.
If you are unfamiliar with the program, these are the people who build the community. These are seniors I know or know of in a variety of ways in my 30 years in the community. I hope you see in their stories a humbleness and goal to make life better for everyone.
If we listen to the wisdom of our seniors, we might learn something, see something different or be inspired to make a difference, too.
Rick Reiss, Living Treasure of Los Alamos, October 2024
The heartbeat of a community can be seen in her children, when they aspire to see it flourish. Rick Reiss is a child of the community, even though he arrived here as an adult.
“Moving to Los Alamos is the best move I ever made, I became a different person,” he said.
Compassionate, kind and caring are the words used to describe Reiss. Although one can see his fingerprints throughout the community, some remain unseen to the naked eye, but they are everywhere.
Reiss knew his wife Debbie was the one when she was in the ninth grade. Her father was his boss, working part time in his shop. When he asked her father for her hand in marriage, naturally he said yes. Then went on to tell Reiss that he had to ask her soon, because he could not keep the secret. They married in 1976 with their favorite daughter Rikki arriving in 1982 and favorite son Jason in 1985.
The couple visited Los Alamos after the suggestion of a day trip by Debbie in 1992. While there, they met Carolyn Shipley, his “enabler” and the Reiss family became residents in 1993. Later, they unofficially adopted Andy Li, a Los Alamos National Laboratory student, who lived with them off and on for six years.
Reiss jumped into the community with both feet. He became an active Kiwanian and licensed by the ATF, choreographed the 4th of July fireworks for 20 years. He took part in Sunrise and Noon Time Kiwanis Clubs. He later became club president, worked on Breakfast with Santa, Key Club and more.
His work with Mountain Community Bank was the first deep dive into volunteer work with community clubs that he called, “not only educational but heartwarming”. Reiss recalls some of his best time spent with Rob and Kathy Hipwood, the Los Alamos High School Track team coaches.
“I enjoyed it so much because they were so thankful. We showed up for five years,” he said.
Reiss served on the Los Alamos County Council for six years including serving as council chair. He describes the experience and work of County employees as a bench that is deep, having a large number of skilled players on the team, who are ready to play.
“I met more good people with the County,” Reiss said. “A cast of characters that do damn good work.”
As Council Chair in 2016, Reiss said that he believed the best thing was talking to people and started each County Council meeting on a positive note. That led to one of the easiest to write speeches, as Reiss delivered the first State of the County message.
As the first outgoing Council Chair, after an amendment in 2014, the Chair would prepare a State of the County Message, which he delivered in January of 2017. You can read the full text of his message in the Los Alamos Daily Post.
Reiss had hoped to build something while here and he did that with the help of private investors at 999 Central. The beautiful three-story office building, which he fondly named “the Alice Building”, was just the first. By the end of his time on the County Council, at least four other buildings were constructed by the County.
He co-chaired the 1998 United Way fund drive and led the Los Alamos Visiting Nurses Board for 10 years, including through the COVID-19 pandemic. These opportunities as volunteer projects were not just contributions but had lasting impact on their non-profit organizations, which are still serving the people of the community and the region.
Reiss worked with Leadership Los Alamos, created in 2003, which began its 21st year in 2024. He served as a session speaker, then became a board member, serving several years. It is known that during his leadership, a student in the program was inspired to create a non-profit in 2014 that exists today.
He also played a role in the creation of Friends of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The Manhattan Project National Historic Park, an addition to the National Park Service (NPS) became official in November of 2015.
Reiss volunteers with the Los Alamos Community Foundation (LACF). He was recently spotted cleaning up an important stretch of downtown Los Alamos with friends from across the years for both the LACF and the Los Alamos Daily Post news team.
Daughter Rikki holds a Ph. D from the University of Houston and is Director of Undergraduate Research and Major Awards, and husband Christopher, who is in the Army Reserve, have two children Miller and Dylan. Son Jason has a BS from the University of Advanced Technology. He works in Level Design for gaming industry leader, Gear Box Software. He has contributed to Borderlands, one of today’s hottest video games. Borderland-3 sold 5 million copies in just the first five days. Jason and his significant other, Darcy, and daughter Felix, live in McKinney, Texas.
Reiss credits his family with what allows him to give so very much.
“Pay it forward, you get more out of it than you give. It works if you put your heart into it,” he said.
When asked what his first thought was upon being told he would be recognized as a 2024 Los Alamos Living Treasure, Reiss said, “I am so happy, just to be recognized.” While he may not have believed it was his time, some believe it is not only his time, but could be the best time of his life.
Natali Steinberg Living Treasure of Los Alamos, October 2024
Natali Steinberg is the very definition of the word, role model. She shares words of wisdom acquired on the path of life, which educate and refresh the soul, at the exact same time.
The Cook County Village of Winnetka, Illinois was celebrating the 4th of July, as the nation was coming out of the depression. One resident had a good friend visiting, who took the time to present the medals. Natali received a medal for swimming, given by former President of the United States, Herbert Hoover.
She was an imperative cog in the wheel of the heart of America, the farming community. Family farmers are the quilt of life, stitched together in communities large and small, creating the foundations of our nation in food, livestock and more.
Inspired by her parents, volunteering is close to her heart as seen by her dedication. She felt that the American Farmland Trust represented her beliefs, and did her own work to help farmers stay on their farms and keep farmland safe from development.
Steinberg has a bachelor’s degree in Geography with an emphasis on rural land use planning. She started at the University of Colorado in 1948, quit after two years, and resumed studying when her children were in junior high and high school. She completed her degree in the centennial class of 1976.
A small farm in Colorado helped her raise three children with husband Mardy, Susan, Dan, and Sarah. “Our small farm was outside of Boulder,” said Steinberg. “As Boulder grew, it grew around us.” Natali spent years working with rural community members and farmers representing them at Boulder County Commission meetings, in zoning and land use. Mardy worked with 4H and on the County Fair Board. The talented team would ignite opportunities for farm families and young people to engage, earning them an award from Boulder County.
Sarah Gustafson, Natali’s daughter and one of the founders of The Pajarito Environmental Education Center, deserves high praise for her start with PEEC. It was Natali’s introduction to the entire community and would become her first love. She loves the staff, volunteers, and knew they had something in common, they could teach young people to care for the environment. There began many years of service, accomplishing a variety of education projects.
Her knowledge of the area found her designing three raised educational garden beds at PEEC. The beds are 8 feet wide and represent the mesas of the local landscape. The idea is that even those in wheelchairs could reach the middle and participate in the fun.
She began volunteering at the Valles Caldera National Preserve. She has been a docent for two years. One day, a woman told her she looked familiar. The woman was the daughter of Steinberg’s best friend from her days in Chicago. The teenager then was seventy now.
Steinberg decided to learn Spanish at Santa Fe Community College and continued in the home of Linda Anderson.
Natali and Mardy were married for 52 years before he passed away. Today seven grandchildren continue the family legacy.
Her most enjoyable work was as a farmer on a small farm, operating a business selling fleece to local weavers and spinners. She says the work is hard, even if you are not earning a living. She retired when they sold their farm in 1994. She still enjoys spinning (making her own yarn) and knitting.
Her favorite thing to do in her free time is gardening and she just does not feel right if her fingers are not in the soil. She has volunteered to manage the 2-1/2 acre landscape around Oppenheimer Place, since she moved there 20 years ago. She enjoys an event that brings everyone outdoors.
Steinberg attributes her long life and health to plenty of exercise, especially in the out of doors; a wonderful, supportive, and loving family, eating a diet of mainly fresh food which they raised themselves and having friends of all ages, colors, and sexes.
Natali feels that she has lived a charmed life. Her husband made life extremely easy for her and she repaid that kindness by caring for him for ten years, while he was ill. She carried out her life the way she wanted and has been blessed with excellent health. Good friends kept her motivated to learn to love living in Los Alamos during what she says turned out to be a whole new chapter in her life.
“I feel like I am so privileged to live here and in this country that I would like to give as much or more than I get.” Indeed, she has done just that and on many occasions.
Bill Wadt, Living Treasure of Los Alamos, October 2024
Bill Wadt is a man motivated by service that has brought a great deal of important local and regional projects to fruition. It is equally noteworthy that he is also a person that takes the time to acknowledge the work of others along the way.
He received his bachelor’s in chemistry and math from Williams College and his Ph. D in chemistry from Caltech. He arrived in Los Alamos in 1976 and joined the LANL T-12 Theoretical Chemistry Group, which included people he worked with at Caltech.
He met Ann McLaughlin in 1971, at her first wedding. After hearing she was no longer married, he had a chance to see her once again, in May of 1984 at a conference in Hanford. Since he only had a work number for her, he cycled home at lunch, to phone her and ask her to dinner. They were married six months later. They would adopt two children, Gabriel in 1991 and Madeleine in 1992.
The first person to get him interested in volunteer work was Dennis Gill, colleagues in the LANL Chemistry and Laser Sciences Division. Gill talked about the importance of getting involved in education. That initially raised Wadt’s antenna, and he has gone on to do wonderful things. He met Tom Garcia who taught him the importance of community engagement and how it could benefit opportunities for people and business. George Cowan, who Wadt calls “a true visionary” and taught him the importance of early childhood education.
The early nineties found him shepherding a Tiger Team of 167 people for seven weeks. Secretary of Energy Admiral James Watkins wanted the national laboratories to have an environment, health and safety inspection. Los Alamos did so well at the “out brief” in 1991, that Sig Hecker thought they should continue the improvement journey.
January 1992 found him collaborating with John Whetten. Senator Bingaman and Sandia National Laboratories led a group of forty leaders including Sig Hecker, the Congressional delegation and more to Schaumburg, Illinois to visit Motorola.
The returning group worked to develop New Mexico based quality organizations. The Governors Business Executives for Education and what would become Quality New Mexico. The Los Alamos Quality Network found Wadt working with Suzie Haveman and Bill Enloe. Enloe and Los Alamos National Bank went on to win the Malcom Baldridge National Quality Award.
Wadt helped to form the LANL Foundation in 1997, one of the most important organizations in the State of New Mexico. The efforts of the LANL Foundation help individuals and programs by working to promote racial and social equity. Their unwavering vision is to see, “That all New Mexicans have the skills and confidence they need to become self-sufficient, lifelong learners.”
He has been associated with the Foundation since the inception and has served many terms on the board of directors. Today, he is the Treasurer of the organization that shares his personal educational mission. “I am very proud of the contributions the Foundation has made to improving education from cradle to career in our region and state,” Wadt said.
The fall of the Berlin Wall caused changes to LANL when budgets came under scrutiny. Support staff had to be cut and Wadt was the one to do the numbers. An hour before the announcement. Director Hecker called to alert Senator Domenici. According to Wadt, “He was not happy.” There was great concern this change would hurt local people.
Wadt worked with the Lab, UC and Paul Dickman of DOE to plan how they could best support the schools. Tom Garcia was hired to lead the effort to engage the community. This work was the impetus for the LANL Foundation. Wadt says Senator Domenici and Senator Bingaman were instrumental in achieving success.
Wadt worked for the Los Alamos National Laboratory for 34 years and believes that the breadth of opportunities, the great teams of people, and the importance of the national security science mission made his career there fun and extremely rewarding.
Wadt worked locally on diversifying the economy. He worked with Bill Enloe and Kevin Holsapple to combine the Los Alamos Economic Development Corporation and Chamber of Commerce in 1999. He continued to work to grow a vibrant economy for the region.
In 2000 the work resulted in the Los Alamos Research Park and a 55-year lease, now it its 35th year. Programs like; Los Alamos MainStreet, the Creative District, the Accelerator and Project Y continue to bloom.
Retirement has not slowed him down as he attempts to improve the educational system, in our community, the region and in New Mexico. Since 2011 he has worked with every LAPS Superintendent on strategic plans.
Wadt’s values of respect for others and integrity underpin his lifelong commitment to serving others through personal and collective learning. He believes that Los Alamos has a “cornucopia of treasured residents. “If you want to make a difference, you need to get involved,” said Wadt. “Working in the community helps to keep you healthy especially as you get older. Social interactions are critical to exercising your mind and emotions.”
Today, Bill and Ann are blessed to have grandson Jackson living nearby with dad Raleigh Whitt. Bill’s heart lies with early education and social-emotional learning. He is proud of education projects and knows it is the key to healthy lives and communities. “Learn as much as you can and build a culture of learning.”