Mary Simpson, a retired CPA, joins NHBM Board

WOLFEBORO — Retired local CPA Mary Simpson has joined the New Hampshire Boat Museum board of trustees and will serve as treasurer.

“I want to use my financial reporting background to develop a reporting package that will provide easy to understand, relevant information in both summary and detailed reports to the board, board committees and to the executive director,” she explained. “[I want] everyone to feel confident that they are appropriately informed as they make the many decisions regarding the museum's future goals and daily operations.”

Regarding her interest in NHBM, Simpson said she had many prior connections. She is married to NHBM’s Adult Sailing Program instructor Keith Simpson. She is also a friend of the boat building program instructor and fellow sailors Charlie Silvenius and his wife, Ann Rowe, the latter of whom is a volunteer on NHBM’s Exhibits Committee.

“My husband and I have attended the boat auction several times, and it's a fun day for all types of boat lovers,” she said. “We actually bought a kayak at the auction a couple of years ago. I have also prevented my husband from buying yet one more old sailboat and bringing it to our property,” she added with a laugh.

For Simpson and her husband, their fondness for NHBM stems from their love of kayaking and sailing as opposed to boats with a motor. “My husband and I love being on the water and have been kayaking and sailing for over 35 years on the little lake we live in Wolfeboro on Rust Pond,” she said.

Noting her husband built their wooden Chesapeake Bay kayaks from a kit and carved their Greenland paddles by hand, Simpson said they have paddled on at least 40 lakes over the years. “The Boat Museum makes me realize that the pleasure we get from traveling on the water our way is the same pleasure that other boaters, present and past, experience doing it their way,” she said. “We all love being in a boat on a lake.”