UKIAH, Calif. – Phyllis Curtis, a lifetime environmentalist and lover of the word “community,” put her money where her passion is.

She recently made a donation to Mendocino College’s Sustainable Technology program to purchase equipment for the solar classes.

“We are grateful for being able to purchase state of the art equipment,” said Orion Walker, coordinator of the program.

Curtis’ investment purchased solar panels, an inverter, a Solmetric SunEye and a Solar Pathfinder.

“Thank you for empowering our class with your gift to make our lab classes more worthwhile,” said Dick Jordan, solar installation instructor, to Curtis when she visited the class. He assured Curtis that the new solar panels were made in the United States. “The best ones come from Tennessee and that’s where these were manufactured.”

Jordan, who lives off the grid in Yorkville, has been “doing solar” for 35 years.

He explained how the new equipment works. “I try to help the class learn the skills and how to be competitive in this growing field.”

The Solmetric SunEye and The Solar Pathfinder each have unique programs that track the sun and forecast how many photovoltaic cells are needed as well as the best location to put them.

Curtis, who lives in a passive solar home, moved to Mendocino County in 1957. “I’m an environmental nut,” said Curtis, an avid hiker and founder of the Inland Mendocino County Land Trust.

“I was raised in Hollywood when it was the garden of Eden,” she said.

After her late husband, Dr. Hugh Curtis, got out of the Army, they looked for a place to live.

Both were from Southern California but they wanted to move to a place where growth wasn’t so rapid and the air was cleaner. Their mutual love of hiking drew the couple to Ukiah.

“In those days we could hike everywhere including to a waterfall that was near where the college is now,” said Curtis.

“Hugh was a general surgeon and brought modern medicine to Ukiah,” she said, recalling frequent dinner parties to recruit medical specialists to move here.

A wing of the Ukiah Valley Medical Center is named after Dr. Curtis. They had two daughters, one of whom is a professor of sustainability at North Arizona University in Flagstaff.

“Our family backpacked every summer,” said Curtis, whose favorite season is spring when she loves to go on wildflower walks. “My father loved nature. This time of the year he and I hiked over the southern California hills to see the poppies and lupine and stop and eat the mustard seeds.”

In 1997 Curtis spearheaded the formation of the Inland Mendocino County Land Trust “after witnessing the enormous loss of agricultural lands and open space in California.”

The Land Trust solicits and manages conservation easements, which include 187 acres in Redwood Valley and 1100 acres in Potter Valley.

“We raised $1,100 to help preserve the redwoods on Ridgewood Ranch,” she said.

After taking a college tour and seeing the house the Sustainable Technology students use for their hands-on instruction, Curtis made her donation to the program.

“I wanted to do something to inspire the students at Mendocino College to have passion for helping the environment,” she said.  

“We learn so much in a short time,” said Christy Brittany, a contractor from Redwood Valley and student in one of the classes. “The school has the latest equipment and we get to learn how it works after our classroom instruction.”

“The health of our planet is at stake and should be our priority,” said Curtis, “It’s to our economic advantage to keep Mendocino County pristine by being sustainable. Solar power is one of the tools.”

For more information on the Sustainable Technology program or to donate to this or another Mendocino College activity, contact the Mendocino College Foundation at 707-467-1018 or email Katie Fairbairn at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .