PNKCA Executive Board

Pacific Northwest Koi Clubs Association

Gene Anderson - Chairman

Phyllis and I started ponding when we moved to Idaho in 1996 after living in Mukilteo near the water. After we attended a pond tour, we joined the Inland Empire Water Garden & Koi Society and have been active ever since. We are also members of the Puget Sound Koi Club, the Northwest Koi & Goldfish Club and the Washington Koi & Water Garden Society. Recently our group of serious koi keepers formed a new North Idaho club - North Idaho Koi Keepers. Our love of koi became more of an obsession after two trips to Japan where we had the opportunity to meet some of the best koi breeders in the business. Now we are finishing work on our third – and last – pond in Hayden Lake. I look forward to serving with this great team of officers.

Elsie Richardson - Vice-Chairperson

Little did I know 15 years ago when we built our first Koi pond that it would lead to the wonderful adventure that I have had and the fascination I have with these beautiful Koi.

In 2001 I became a member of the Oregon Koi and Watergarden Society. Through the encouragement of the club I enrolled in the KHA program sponsored by the AKCA. I graduated in 2004 and took additional courses along the way and was renewed as a KHA in 2006. The OK&WS is such a big part of my life and I truly enjoy the camaraderie that I have with the members of my club plus all of the people I have met across the country. I truly enjoy the hobby, as it is a family affair and there is nothing more relaxing than setting by the pond and enjoying watching my Koi. I am serving as the President for 2007, have served as Secretary for 2 years, Show Co-Chair. I have been honored by my club with The AKCA Person of the Year in 2004, the OK&WS Koi Person of the Year 2005, and Ed Fujimoto Award in 2007. I have been a PNKCA Rep for 3 years. I am looking forward to working with the PNKCA board and all of the clubs across the Pacific Northwest.

Carmen Stafford - Secretary

In 1999 I had my first pond built. I learned a lot with this pond and in doing so made every mistake you can along the way. I recently had my pond enlarged from 1600 gallons to 6880 gallons. Boy, are my fish happy! I’ve been a member of the Mid-Columbia Koi & Pond Club since about 1999 and recently became newsletter editor. For the last three years I have organized our club’s annual pond tour. I am also a member of the North Idaho Koi Keepers and look forward to learning a lot from their meetings. My involvement with the PNKCA began in 2005 when I attended my first PNKCA convention in Portland. The Executive Board was looking for a volunteer club for the 2006 22nd annual convention. I talked my club members into hosting the convention. They said okay, but that I would have to chair it, so I did. While doing this, I became a PNKCA Representative for my club. The convention took a year to plan, and with the help of lots of people, we got it done. Now I’m looking forward to serving as Secretary for the PNKCA Executive Board.

I met my first koi at the Honolulu Airport in 1980 and I thought they were magnificent. Little did I know that 10 years later Nancy and I would begin construction of our first pond. At first, the fish were Nancy’s, but I succumbed to the allure and bought my first fish, Emily, a cute Yamabuki Ogon, in 1992. Fast forward over the last 15 years—I’ve been an active member of the Washington Koi & Water Garden Society, and have served on the Executive Board as Treasurer, Newsletter Editor (twice) and President (twice) and I’ve chaired two of our Annual Koi Shows. I have learned more things than I ever thought I would want to know—how to inject fish, how to do a necropsy, etc. Not the most fun part of koikeeping, but the joys far outweigh the challenges and the failures. It has been so much fun to meet other koi kichi people; I’ve been to at least five PNKCA Conventions, three AKCA Seminars, and numerous koi shows up and down the west coast. I have made lots of friends and seen incredibly beautiful fish, and I still am thrilled when our koi come rushing over at the sound of my voice. I look forward to working with club members across the Pacific Northwest as I serve as PNKCA Treasurer.