Jenny Dowell grew up in rural Victoria and after training as an Infants Teacher in Geelong, she went on to study another year to become a teacher of deaf children in Melbourne. Her special passion was teaching profoundly deaf children to speak and took that passion from the schoolroom into colleges and universities where she became a lecturer in Speech and Language development for five years while she completed Bachelors of Arts and Education.

On her return to teaching, she was a team leader and class teacher of teenage deaf students before leaving full-time work to have children.

Following her marriage to Ron and the birth of Georgina, Jenny became deeply involved in her local community in South Melbourne, organising a play group and forming a committee to build a large community playground and becoming President of a foster care agency. She followed Georgie and then Tim into pre-school and school and became secretary and president of various committees and the school Council.

On returning to part-time work supervising graduate teachers of deaf children at Melbourne University, Jenny also started the first parent centred program for speech development for pre-school deaf children at a western suburbs school.

When Ron was appointed a lecturer in Tourism at Southern Cross University in Lismore, the family made the big move north.

Jenny believes it is the best move she ever made.

Within a week of arriving and with Georgie and Tim settled into Lismore Heights PS, Jenny became a volunteer driver with NR Community Transport. After four years as a driver and as secretary on the management committee, Jenny became a volunteer at Lismore Neighbourhood Centre and then at Lismore library.

Also during this time, Jenny joined the school P&C becoming Secretary and President and remained closely involved throughout her children’s schooling.

She also commenced work as a special education teacher at both Wilson Park PS and at Lismore PS where she was the inaugural Itinerant Support Teacher for Children with Conductive Hearing Loss.

The 14 years Jenny spend as the IST (CHL) brought her into contact with young children and their families and teachers from Tweed Heads to Evans Head and inland to Tabulum and Woodenbong. Affectionately known as ‘the snot lady’ Jenny set about teaching children how their ears worked and how to blow their noses to assist in the prevention of glue ear.

Jenny’s move into local government came after she attended a few Council meetings and caught the bug. She stood for election in March 2004 and has loved every minute (almost) since!

She continues her volunteering as President of Northern Rivers Social Development Council and on numerous committees.

To relax, Jenny enjoys her garden, her book group, being a member of U3A and as a volunteer at Lismore Rainforest Botanical Gardens. In September 2008, Jenny will be running for Mayor and looks forward to having the opportunity to further serve the community she loves.

After growing up in East Lismore and graduating from Lismore High School Isaac met his wife Denise just before commencing a degree in Media at Southern Cross University. Despite the pressures of study and work, Isaac & Denise were married in July of 1995. They now have three beautiful children, Rien (10) Amber (8) and Deianera (3) and are expecting their fourth child in late August this year.

After finishing his degree and further study, Isaac began lecturing at Southern Cross University. In 2006, while still teaching, he sought to start his own business and began a local website that promoted community groups and events as well as locally owned businesses. The business idea came from his belief in the importance of keeping services, products and employment as local as possible. Along with his own website, Isaac does media consulting for organisations such as NSW Health and The Northern Rivers Social Development Council, along with other local groups.

Due to the success of his business, he reluctantly withdrew from lecturing at university at the end of 2007 to focus more on his community and his business interests. It is this passion for his city that draws Isaac to Lismore City Council. With a keen insight on living with a young family, Isaac believes that others at this stage in life are under represented in local Govenment. This family presepective is one he hopes to make heard if he is given the opportunity to serve the people of Lismore as a councillor.

Isaac might be an average soccer player, but enjoys his role as Player/Manager of the Goonellabah Men's 4th division team. He also currently serves as a parent representative on the School Council at his childrens school, Summerland Christian College. His experience in broad ranging local committees over the past 15 years is a very good grounding for the challenges of being a Councillor. It is also a challenge he is ready and willing to accept.

Ray Houston was born in Cobar NSW and was raised in inner urban Sydney at Balmain. He worked in the electrical trade for 12 years, the last four in his own electrical contracting business.

It was while working closely with (Mum) Shirley Smith and Professor Fred Hollows with Koori families in regional communities that Ray felt a need for more people centered work and went into nursing in the early seventies. He undertook courses in psychiatric and general nursing studies and worked in that industry for the next twenty years and lead teams in psychiatric, medical and aged care nursing. During this time he attended University of Technology Sydney and attained a master’s degree in management.

Ray left a health management position as manager of neurosciences at St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney to pursue another aspiration; this time to live abroad. He moved to England in the early nineties and owned and ran a sixteenth century Coaching Inn in Somerset for four years. After returning to Australia he went back to mental health nursing in Melbourne where he worked in acute and emergency mental health and then as a Psychiatric Nurse Educator until he moved to Lismore in 2007. His love of Lismore went back thirty years and he visited the area often and ultimately decided to live here in retirement.

Ray is passionate about community service and advocacy and so seeks a position as a councillor at Lismore and looks forward to the opportunity to use his accumulated life and work skills as a “tradie”, a nurse and health manager and teacher, and a small business person to underpin his service to the people of Lismore.

In his spare time he is an avid gardener and reader; he volunteers at the Page federal member’s office and attends U3A.