Taffy Raphael – Board Member

Taffy retired from a forty-five year career as an educator and educational researcher. She taught elementary school in Chicago and North Carolina before completing her graduate studies and working in Colleges of Education at University of Utah, Michigan State University, Oakland University, and University of Illinois at Chicago. She co-founded schoolRise, supporting school change in over 150 schools primarily in Chicago, Hawaii, and western New York, as well as smaller projects in Michigan and Oregon.

Taffy served on the Board of Directors of two professional nonprofit organizations — International Literacy Association and the Literacy Research Association (where she was treasurer,  vice-president, and president), as well on the Board of the Beaver Island Association and the Condominium Association at her Chicago home. A member of the BIPAA Board of Directors since 2021, she also volunteers as Event Photographer for Baroque on Beaver.

Taffy and her husband, Jim Gavelek, first came to Beaver Island in 1980. They built their home on Bonners Landing in l991 and now spend about 5 months a year there.