Heritage Documentaries - Board of Directors & Officers

David T. Coopman grew up in Moline and graduated from St. Ambrose College in 1970 with a B.A. degree in English. He taught English and was yearbook advisor at Moline (Illinois) High School from 1970 to 1977. From 1977 to 2003, he was employed in industrial sales and management. Coopman was president of the Rock Island County Historical Society from 1981 to 1983, and in 1994 he chaired the society's fundraising campaign for a major expansion of its library facilities. In 2005, he was chair of the Historical Society's year-long centennial celebration. Coopman has authored two books on the histories of local radio stations KSTT and WQUA. A third book, a pictorial history of Rock Island County, was published in 2008 by Arcadia Publications. Two additional books for Arcadia, Davenport's WOC AM-FM-TV, was published in May 2010, and Quad City International Airport, was published in May 2011.

David Ezra Sidran, Secretary.

Ezra Sidran is a Midwesterner. Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Sidran studied photography and graphic design at the age of fifteen at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A year later he transferred to the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he studied typography, history and medieval economics. During this time Sidran became a sideman, playing piano in numerous bands that were headquartered out of Madison. Eventually, a two-week booking at the infamous Yankee Clipper in Rock Island, Illinois became a three-year 'house gig' and Sidran permanently relocated to the Quad Cities. In 1985 Sidran received a B. A. in computer animation from Marycrest College (the first accredited institution to offer a degree in this field). While still an undergraduate, he began work on his first computer game, UMS: The Universal Military Simulator, which he licensed to the British company TelecomSoft. Within six months it was the #1 selling computer game in England. Over the next fifteen years Sidran wrote numerous computer games including Designasaurus, UMS II: Nations at War, The War College, Jack the Ripper and Londoner. In 2005 and 2009 Sidran received Masters and Ph. D. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Iowa. His research area is Artificial Intelligence for simulations and games.

Ferrel E. Anderson earned a B.A. degree in chemistry at Augustana College in 1962 and has pursued graduate work in anthropology at the University of Illinois and chemistry at Kansas State University. He retired from a forty-year career in chemical research and materials engineering at the US Army Materiel Systems Analysis Activity at Rock Island Arsenal. Anderson co-founded the Illinois Association for the Advancement of Archaeology and founded the Quad Cities Archaeological Society. He has served as president and director of these organizations, and has also served as president and director of the Iowa Archaeological Society. He initiated and championed the acquisition and development of the Albany Mounds State Historic Site, and is working with the Archaeological Conservancy and the professional archaeological community for the preservation of additional archaeological sites in the Quad City region. He is currently an employee of the University of Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program. He has written articles on local archaeology and is co-author of "Two Nations, One Land" published by the Citizens to Preserve Black Hawk Park Foundation in 1981. Anderson is currently researching the location of Saukenuk, the principle village of the Sauk, and pursuing its preservation.

Ronald W. Deiss holds a B. S. degree in anthropology and geography (1978) and an M.S. in archeology (1981) from Illinois State University. He has completed seventeen post-graduate training courses focusing on planning, preservation, historic properties, leadership, equal employment opportunity, and environmental studies. Deiss is currently District Archeologist, and District Historian and Native American Tribal Coordinator, in the Economic and Environmental Analysis Branch, Planning, Programs and Project Management Division, of the Rock Island District, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. He has authored 49 articles, manuscripts and books on various topics, including preservation, history, archeology, and artifacts studies, and has presented over 45 papers at professional meetings and at clubs and other organizations. He has been a member of the Registry of Professional Archaeologists since 1985 and has experience in compiling and authoring material included in cultural resource management reports, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, National Register of Historic Place eligibility determinations, historic property management plans covering prehistoric, historic, and architectural sites. As District Archeologist, Deiss assesses environmental situations and works dredging programs, ecosystem restoration, navigation and transportation studies, construction projects, the Environmental Management Program, the Historic Committee, military construction, real estate design memoranda, and specially-authorized studies. Deiss collected much of the background material for the video documentary, When Farmers Were Heroes: The Era of National Corn Husking Contests, released by Heritage Documentaries in 2009.

Andrew Gates is a freelance writer, researcher, amateur documentarian, and decorated veteran. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Northern Iowa (2003) and is expected to receive a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from St. Ambrose University (2011), where he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Buzz newspaper. As a Marine Gates deployed throughout the world and served with distinction in the Iraq War. Since separating from the military, he has worked a few odd jobs, including bartending and working for a printing press. Gates is presently developing a 23-minute film about the first railroad bridge to cross the Mississippi River at Rock Island. His major areas of interest are military history, American politics, moral philosophy, genealogy, music and mixology.

Timothy J. Murphy received his B. S. degree, with distinction, in psychology and his Ph. D. in clinical psychology from the University of Washington. He has 35 years of experience in the substance abuse treatment field as a clinician, researcher, administrator and author. Dr. Murphy has counseled heroin and cocaine addicts, chronic alcoholics, and problem drinkers. He has obtained grants to investigate the effectiveness of several treatment interventions for problem drinkers and cigarette smokers, has publications in professional journals, and has presented papers at national and international conferences. As a research associate faculty at the University of Washington, Murphy had the opportunity to work on a multi-million dollar project funded by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) focusing on the treatment of cocaine addiction, with responsibilities that included developing the treatment model (i.e., Cognitive-Behavioral Relapse Prevention), the treatment protocols, and the assessment instruments. Dr. Murphy has consulted on many other research projects around the country using the above model and applying it to the treatment of chronic marijuana abusers, sex offenders, and high-risk gay men. Murphy moved to the Quad Cities 19 years ago. He provided the overall leadership to a large hospital-based chemical dependency treatment program, while developing community-based and giving workshops. Dr. Murphy has taught at St. Ambrose University and Scott Community College, and currently maintains a clinical private practice in Davenport, Iowa.

Kathleen Seusy received a Teachers Certificate, First Class Honors, from The Froebel Institute in London, and a B. A. in education from Marycrest College (1973). She taught elementary school in Cambridge, England and Buffalo, Iowa, and English literature at St. Katherines/St. Marks School in Bettendorf, Iowa (1980-85). As a volunteer at the Rock Island County Historical Society since 1990, Seusy has researched scores of local history topics and has written numerous articles and chapters on those topics. She regularly organizes educator's workshops on teaching local history for primary and secondary teachers. Since 1994 she also has been co-director of Historical Jamborees for grade school students of Moline and East Moline. Since 1996 Seusy has been organizer, researcher, and director of an annual cemetery walk program at Riverside Cemetery in Moline, Echoes from Riverside. For her work on that program the Moline Preservation Society named her Preservationist of the year in 2003. Seusy is the lead author of the 2009 book, Moline History Echoes From Riverside Cemetery, published by Heritage Documentaries, which secured funding for the book from the Moline Foundation.