Christine Zelm – President

Christine is a retired Senior Vice President of Sales working from offices in San Francisco and China, and interfacing with all the major retail executives around the world selling Disney licensed toys.

Not only did Christine travel for work, she extensively traveled pursuing her passion of skiing, scuba diving, hiking and connecting with people from other countries discovering new cultures and food.

Christine did missionary work in Haiti, works at local good banks, and is active with her church, enjoys bible study and is a garden club member.

Christine grew up in Illinois in a strong Christian and military family, embracing politics at an early age, supporting her father’s local political office and joining the Young Republican’s Club.

Christine relocated to the panhandle from CO moving from mountains to water and immediately became involved in the 2020 election volunteering at the Walton County Republican headquarters.

Christine is excited about the new chapter and change as the new President of WRWF and embracing the Republican revolution. She shares the vision that women empower women.

Terri Parker – Vice President Membership

Terri is a proud first generation Republican within her family. She was born on an Army base in Texas, but was raised primarily in Mississippi where both sides of her family are from.

She was the first person in her family to attend college. She attended a small, private Baptist school, William Carey College; where she received her Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing. While at WCC she went on a medical missionary trip to Mexico with them. She practiced as a registered nurse for many years in a variety of fields, from a hospital floor nurse, a Home Health nurse, a Cardiac nurse, an Operating Room nurse in a trauma level hospital, and for a defibrillator company. While in Mississippi she was a member of the Garden Club and the Junior Auxiliary, two charity social clubs. But being a nurse was a very rewarding part of her life. She enjoyed taking care of patients and was very fulfilled helping others in all aspects of her life.

She, her husband, and daughters moved to Florida full time about eight years ago into their vacation home in Blue Mountain Beach on 30A. They then moved to Rosemary Beach where they would be closer to their daughters school, Ohana Institute. After their middle daughter graduated and left for Auburn University they relocated to the Bay where they have a large horse farm, barn, and arena for their youngest daughter to train as an English Hunter-Jumper Equestrian rider. She and her family love their peaceful life on the farm. Terri loves to say that she brought country to the beach.

Terri’s joy is traveling. She lived in Cairo, Egypt, when she was in middle school and quickly realized there was so much to see in this World. She and her family have traveled to more than 40 countries together and within the US have visited 22 National Parks. Their passports and luggage are always ready for their next adventure.

Terri joined the WRWF group almost 3 years ago when a friend invited her to a monthly meeting with her. Since that very first meeting she’s been eagerly available and willing to help spread the word and volunteer to bring other’s to join the RED Wave!

Mary Howard, Vice President – Programs

Mary loves our great Constitution, after God and her family. Raising her three sons was the highlight of her life. For years, her married adult sons were spread out on three different continents, so it took a global pandemic to slow down this grandmother’s travel schedule before she could even consider a board position. Plus, she hates to travel. So after decades of serving on a multitude of boards and teams’ mom, and endless volunteering, she planned to slow it down in Florida.

Mary is a recovering engineer, from the University of Oklahoma, also with a dusty MBA from Louisiana, where she learned to love crawfish while working in the oil & gas sector. Born and raised in Oklahoma, and a descendant of share croppers and ranchers, Mary has traveled the world, but managed to call her home base for over 30 years in Texas with her husband, before coming to Florida. And Mary loves everything about Texas, other than one thing. It’s not Florida.

Mary has been an active volunteer for the Emerald Coast Children’s Advocacy Center for years, after having spent years in Texas working with teen girls rescued from human trafficking. The rescued girls were housed on a secluded ranch, where Mary helped mentoring, tutoring with archaic online schooling, and assisting with equine therapy.

Mary and John serve as Volunteer Beach Ambassadors and active members of The Chapel at Crosspoint Church, after many years of Sunday School teaching at a mega church in Texas and leading Bible Study Fellowship. Mary is also currently active with IMPACT100, serving on grant review committee and annual meeting committee.

Mary is a lifelong Republican, recently becoming much more politically active in response to the growing attacks on our constitutional rights. She loves live music, meaningful conversations, and walking the beach at sunset with a glass of bubbly.

Secretary – Julie Bogenreif

Julie has been a life long Republican with family ties to the party dating back to her grandfather who served on the Virginia Electoral College in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Julie and her husband have owned real estate in Walton County since 2008 and became full time residents in 2012 upon retirement. Prior to retirement, she held various positions in her family real estate management company in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Treasurer – Marinell Lightfoot

Like so many others, my husband Danny and I were drawn to this area and thoroughly enjoyed 12 years as tourist. In 2017 we knew we wanted to make Destin our permanent home, and became Floridians! We really have embraced the lifestyle here, from cruising around on our bikes, to sunset walks along the beaches. As a former vacationer I volunteered to serve as a Beach Ambassador, passing along my local knowledge and information to others in an effort to keep them safe and our beaches beautiful!

My career has been primarily in Management of IT Staffing and Consulting firms based in the Dallas, Texas area. During this time, I also served on several committees and on my HOA board there. More recent I have also served on my HOA board here as well. Always eager to learn and become efficient in Florida law, I received my certification as a Community Association Manager.

Originally from East Tennessee, my first taste of politics came when my Aunt who served on the County Election Commission encouraged me to become an election worker. I was only 18 and it was actually the first year I was eligible to vote. I found it very rewarding, however at the time my family favored policies of the Democrats. As I worked and grew older, it did not take me long to realize that my preferences were aligned with conservative policies. I registered as a Republican and have never looked back!

I look forward to serving as your treasurer for the WRWF. I am excited to be a part of growing our club and ensuring that Florida, my home stays “Forever Red”!

Past President, Jeri Michie

Jeri Michie is a retired educator with 34 years experience in all levels of public and private education including elementary, middle, and high schools.

Jeri is active in the community volunteering as a Fellowship of Christian Athletes sponsor at Butler Elementary, Bible Study teacher, Captain of NWFTA Ladies Tennis team, and coach for SWHS Ladies Tennis.

Faith and family are central to Jeri’s life and she is an active member and teacher at Destiny Worship Center. She has been married to her husband Scott Michie, a former administrator and current Walton County teacher. She and Scott have two children, Brian and Bradley. Brian and his wife, Josie are both educators in Walton County and have two children, Mary Allison and Benjamin. Bradley works for Carolina Power; he and his wife, Ashley, have two daughters, Laney and Morgan Grace.