Meet Our Board
The Board of Trustees is composed of descendants of Wilson Bruce Evans and Sarah Jane Leary Evans, members of the Oberlin’s African American genealogy and history community, members of Oberlin’s historic preservation community, and members of the Oberlin College community.
Doris E. Hughes-Moore
President
Doris Hughes-Moore is a committed member of the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society and is
working alongside so many committed to the preservation of the legacy of Wilson Bruce Evans and Sarah
Jane Evans and advancing their commitment for uplift to all seeking social and economic parity with
educational opportunities for all. She is also a descendant of Wilson Bruce Evans and Sarah Jane Evans.
Doris Hughes-Moore was born in Washington, NC and graduated from Tuskegee University, Tuskegee Institute,
AL in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree
from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN in 1973. She completed postgraduate internships in Veterinary Clinical
pathology at both Purdue University and Washington State University in Pullman, WA. After initially working as a
veterinarian in the pharmaceutical industry and co-founding a veterinary pathology consulting firm, Dr. Hughes
found her true calling in academia, working at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD and at The George
Washington University and Howard University in Washington, DC. Her veterinary consulting services continued
with clientele including the Children’s National Medical Center and the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical
Center both in Washington, DC. She also served on the Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners for the District of
Columbia.
As a young child her Grandmother Julia Inborden Gordan recognized that Doris was precocious in the visual arts
and provided her with art supplies and instructional materials at an early age. Other relatives including her
maternal Aunt Julia Jordan supported her attendance at the Washington DC Corcoran Gallery program of art
classes for children at the early ages of 8 and 12. Though informal, her art education continued and included a
basic art course at Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL; a photography adult education class in Pullman, WA;
acrylic painting class at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA, private drawing classes under the instruction of
Renaissance Commercial Artist Ralph Butler, Silver Spring, MD; a Lost Wax Method of Bronze Sculpture
Workshop in Washington, DC, and attendance at the School of Botanical Art and Illustration, Brookside Gardens,
Silver Spring with course work covering drawing, watercolor and colored pencil art technique as well as botanical
art design. Her favorite media is acrylics, watercolor, colored pencil and mixed media. Her artist statement is I am
a student of the “common person.” I avoid stereotypes and direct my efforts towards reflection of the personality
beneath the skin. Collectively, Doris Hughes-Moore exhibits include forty-five non-juried shows; forty-three
juried/invitational exhibits, six solo; one two-artist and two four-artist exhibits. She has also provided commercial
illustration for computer software firm Bingwa, Inc. and the Peoples Publishing Company, Mayfield, NJ. Her work
“One People” was also featured in the International Review of African American Art and she received an
Individual Artist Fellowship, from the D.C. Commission for the Arts and Humanities in 1995.
Doris Hughes-Moore is also the widow of Reverend Douglas Moore. Reverend Douglas Moore was a classmate
of Reverend Martin Luther King at Boston University and fellow civil rights activist, a United Methodist Missionary
in the Congo, successful businessman, philanthropist, patron of the arts, and former District of Columbia City
Councilman.
Love of equality, animals and art and commitment to social uplift and access to educational opportunity were
instilled in Doris Hughes-Moore at an early age and remain guiding principles to which she has and continues to
dedicate her life.
Phyllis Yarber Hogan
Vice President
Phyllis Yarber Hogan is a life-long resident of Oberlin, Ohio. She retired from Oberlin College after serving 42 years as an administrative assistant. Phyllis is a founding member of the Oberlin African-American Genealogy History Group (OAAGHG) and currently serves on the Board of the Oberlin House of The Lord Fellowship and Ruby N. Jones Community Scholarship Fund RNJCSF.
Annessa Wyman
Secretary
Catherine Grooms
Treasurer
Catherine Grooms is a Great-Great-Great Granddaughter of Wilson Bruce Evans and Sarah Jane Leary Evans.
Catherine Grooms leads and manages the SBDC hosted by College of the Canyons in the Santa Clarita Valley, San Fernando Valley, Antelope Valley and Metro Los Angeles. She works with thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs, and has broad experience prior to joining the SBDC working with public and private companies both small and large on the East Coast, in the Midwest and in California including a variety of industries both domestic and international. Catherine has a BBA in Accounting from Howard University and an MBA (Accounting/Management Concentration) from the University of Baltimore. She is a graduate of the Leadership Development Program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Executive Education; and the Leadership Development Program at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Gary Kornblith
Trustee
Gary Kornblith is Professor of History Emeritus at Oberlin College and has resided in Oberlin for forty years. With Carol Lasser, he is the joint author of Elusive Utopia: The Struggle for Racial Equality in Oberlin, Ohio, published by Louisiana State University Press in 2018. Gary and Carol raised their three children in Oberlin.
Gary is a long-standing member of the Oberlin African-American Genealogy and History Group and of the Oberlin Heritage Center, and he serves on the board of Oberlin Community Services. He is proud to be a founding member of The Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society.
Liz Schultz
Trustee
Liz Schultz is the Executive Director of the Oberlin Heritage Center, a local historical society that collects and interprets Oberlin’s unique heritage and advocates for local history and preservation projects. Liz holds degrees in anthropology and museum studies and moved to Oberlin in 2007. She began as the education coordinator of OHC and regularly shared the history of the Evans family with visitors and residents and is excited to be part of this next stage of sharing Evans family stories.
Richard Hughes
Trustee
Richard Hughes (“Richy”) is a great, great, great grandson of Wilson Bruce and Sarah Jane Evans and a founding board member of the society. Richy is a director of quality assurance for a global clinical pharmacology “biotech” with decades of experience in laboratory, environmental, and pharmaceutical industries. Richy lives with his wife, Michelle, and 2 (two) sons Levi Russell Hughes and Simon Lewis Hughes. Both of which are great, great, great, great grandsons of Wilson and Sarah. Moreover, Simon’s middle name, Lewis, honors the ultimate sacrifice paid by Lewis Sheridan Leary at the Harper’s Ferry, with Reverend John Brown.
Melany Hughes, MD, MPH, FACS
Trustee
Melany Hughes is a great, great, great grandchild of Sarah Jane Leary Evans and Wilson Bruce Evans. Melany is Vice Chair of Surgery/Service Chief at Stony Brook Eastern Long Island Hospital.
Camille Hamlin Allen Ph.D.
Trustee
Camille Hamlin Allen, Ph.D., is a native of Oberlin, Ohio. Professionally, she spent 40 plus years working in the field of higher education, both as a licensed professional counselor and as a college administrator.
She is a founding member and past president of the Oberlin African American Genealogy and History Group; a member, docent, chair of the Westwood Cemetery GPS gravesite identification project and past trustee of the Oberlin Heritage Center; and a charter member of the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society.
She is passionate about giving voice to the historical experiences of women of color, who were often only shadows within the historical records and whose voices were suppressed as background noise. Camille wants the world to know and acknowledge, “We too were here.”
Thomas Karro-Gassner
Trustee
Brigette Cardwell-Johnson
Trustee
Brigette Cardwell-Johnson is a great, great, great grandchild of Wilson Bruce Evans and Sarah Jane Evans. She has over 20 years experience in education and corporate organization development. Brigette has experience as a classroom teacher, Principal and a Training Manager for a large water utility company. She also is the sole proprietor of Unlimited Expectations, a tutoring company located in Detroit, Michigan. Brigette holds a BA in Communications from Central State University and a MA in Educational Leadership from Concordia University , River Forest, IL. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and the Links, Incorporated.
Lewis Sheridan Hughes
Trustee
Lewis Sheridan Hughes is a great, great, great grandchild of Sarah Jane Leary Evans and Wilson Bruce Evans. Lewis is a professional chef in Beacon, NY and is the namesake of ancestral family member Lewis Sheridan Leary who was martyred alongside John Brown in the Raid on Harper’s Ferry.
Connie Ponder
Trustee
Connie Ponder is a lifelong resident of Oberlin, a descendant of the Wall family, free people of color who moved here from North Carolina in the 1850s. She has worked for Oberlin College, the City of Oberlin as its Director of Recreation, and the Oberlin Schools as an elementary school librarian. She currently sits on the Board of Oberlin Community Services, which she previously chaired. She has also served on the board of the Oberlin Cable Coop.
Wilson Hughes
Trustee
Wilson Inborden Hughes is a namesake descendent of Wilson Bruce and Sarah Jane Evans and a founding board member of the society. Wilson brings over 20 years of experience in eCommerce, Smart Home and Energy Management industries, supporting the technology and digital presence needs of the Society. Wilson has 4 children along with his wife, Maeghin and lives in Colorado.
Candyce Hughes-Coulibaly
Candyce Hughes was a great, great, great grandchild of Sarah Jane Leary Evans and Wilson Bruce Evans. She was a founding board member of the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society. She had experience in human service management, project management, operations and organizational planning. She was co-owner of Brick by Brick Masonry & Stone Restoration LLC, a historic preservation masonry restoration company located in Washington, DC. She was also a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Mali, 2001-2003). Candyce held an MSW and a BA in Sociology from Howard University.