Rick van Valkenburg
New Board Member Rick van Valkenburg grew up in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan during the turbulent Sixties, which apparently led him to forsake a traditional college degree for a more experiential education working a variety of jobs including (more or less in order): Lawn Mower, Gardener, Truck Helper, Concession Stand Worker, Bus Boy, Pizza Maker, Cab Driver, Taxi Dispatcher, Rick with parents Leola & Ernie
Carpenter, Factory Worker, Laborer, Hospital Porter, Custodian, School Bus Driver, Ditch Digger, Truck Driver, Poet, Writer, Small Press Editor, Small Press Publisher, Video Director, Videotape Editor, Street Vendor, Actor, Model, Office Worker, Clerk, Bookseller, Gallery Owner, Curator, Performance Space Proprietor, Booker, Real Estate Agent, Diamond Salesman, Medical Transcriber, Database Manager, Web Site Designer, HTML Coder, Content Provider, Technician, System Administrator, Wide Area Network Engineer and dot-com CEO.
Rick attended the second NAVVF Reunion in 1971 in Adrian, Michigan and became an early member. In 1995 Rick came to the NAVVF Reunion in Fishkill, NY armed with a proposal to put the NAVVF on the Internet and later hosted an unofficial NAVVF web site. The success of this site led to the creation of NAVVF's official website with the registered domain names navvf.org, vanvalkenburg.org, vanvalkenburgh.org and van-valkenburg.org. Over the last couple of years Rick has worked with Bob Van Valkenburgh to take over the role of Membership Coordinator, to keep track and update the NAVVF membership database.
Rick lives in New York City with wife Mary and daughter Sophia. In addition to his volunteer work for the NAVVF, Rick is Chair of the New Technology Committee for the New York Branch of the Screen Actors Guild and is an Elder serving on the Consistory (governing board) of Middle Collegiate Church in New York City. The Collegiate Church is the original Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam where Jochem, son of our ancestor Lambert and Annetje VV, was baptized in 1646.