My early history...
I was born in Westfield, New York, the same town in which
my parents were born, and my father's parents. My grandmother taught
at a one-room school house in Hartfield and my grandfather taught high
school general science, chemistry and physics and was the principal
at the elementary section of Westfield Academy and Central School.
Westfield is where, in 1896, Charles E. Welch, established Welch's
Grape Juice to manufacture his father's formula for juice to replace
the wine used in communion (the main office moved to Concord, Massachusetts,
in 1983, and the last of the office workers will be losing their jobs
in the next few months). Westfield is located in Chautauqua County,
one of five counties located in the southern tier of western New York
that are classified as part of Appalachia. Much of the Chautauqua County
economy is based on raising Concord, Niagara and wine grapes and milking
dairy cows.
My father, now retired, worked for a small manufacturing firm, Ajax
Flexible Coupling Company, and my mother is a homemaker (they don't
get to retire!). I have a brother (Bob) and sister (Bonnie); they're
both older than I am. My mom and I spent a lot of time hiking the woods,
learning the names of plants and trying to eat almost all of them, even
skunk cabbage, and studying the birds, snakes and other wildlife that
we found. My advice concerning skunk cabbage is...don't try it. It contains
high levels of toxic oxalates and must be boiled in three changes of
water to be safe. After this much boiling, it's a pale green gelatinous
mass and not very tasty.
I worked at a riding stable for several years while I was in school,
exchanging stall cleaning and leading trail rides for the opportunity
to ride any time I wanted. The stable was located in the hills outside
of Westfield, and the horses provided ample opportunity to explore nature,
especially the deep gorges of Chautauqua Creek. When I was a high school
junior, I was hired as a veterinary assistant at the local animal hospital.
I worked at the hospital after school and during the summer, learning
about the care of sick animals and assisting with treatments, surgery
and laboratory work.
Top
...followed by my
career in Natural Resource Management.....
I graduated from high school in 1971, and started working on my BS
in Wildlife Management at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. I dropped
out after a year and a half, however, and returned to Westfield to try
to "decide what to do with my life." I decided that I still
wanted to work with nature, so I enrolled in the Natural Resource Conservation
program at Morrisville Agricultural and Technical College in central
New York. I received an Associate in Applied Science and transferred to the University of
Michigan, graduating in 1976 with a BS in Natural
Resources.
I was hired by a consulting forester in Jamestown, NY, in southern
Chautauqua County, and I worked for several years developing hiking
trails around the perimeter of the county (I worked primarily on the
Eastside Hiking Trail and the Portage Trail, obtaining permanent easements
on private property and working with construction crews as they built
lean-tos and boardwalks). I also obtained easements for the North and
Central Chautauqua Lake Sewer districts, negotiating for the necessary
land to install a sewer system around the perimeter of the lake, where
many properties were very small and a homeowner's well might be only
a few feet away from their neighbor's septic system. The County was
concerned about the possibility of coliform bacteria leaching from the
septic systems into private wells, creating a public health hazard and,
incidentally, resulting in fecal contamination of the lake.
Much of the work done by the company centered on the sale of timber
from private and public property. We would "cruise" the timber,
estimating the kind and amount of timber on the property, accept bids
and then supervise the logging that was done, ensuring that the buyer
conformed to the standards of the contract. Some sites required special
techniques, such as the use of horses to remove trees from the Rochester
watershed. We also performed contract work for the United States Forest
Service, including habitat resurveys in the Allegany National Forest
in northwestern Pennsylvania. We worked in teams, hiking into the forest
to where iron stakes marked sites that were surveyed fifty years previously.
We would then inventory the vegetation in the vicinity of the stakes,
identify and count the number of rabbit and deer fecal pellets and determine
if either species had browsed the plants in the survey area. The Forest
Service then compared our survey results with those of fifty years ago
to make management decisions for the Forest.
I realized, though, that I really wanted to work closer to people and
animals, and the field of natural resource management wasn't providing
me with this opportunity. After exploring the possibilities, I decided
to build on my high school experience at the animal hospital and become
a Veterinary Technician.
Top
..then my next career as a
Veterinary Technician and Vet Tech Educator...
I enrolled in the Veterinary Technology program at the NYS Agricultural
and Technical College at Delhi, at the northern edge of the Catskill
Mountains. I enjoyed my two years at Delhi, learning about the medical
care of animals. After graduation, I attempted to find a job combining
my Natural Resources background with my Vet Tech degree, looking for
a job working with wildlife. However, in the midst of Reagonomics, no
one was hiring technicians, and the only offer I received was an invitation
to enroll in a Master's degree program and study beavers in Nevada.
Although it was tempting, I decided to re-enter the working world and
pay off my student loan. I worked at a veterinary hospital on Glidden
Avenue in Jamestown and then at a Veterinary Technology program in Pittsburgh,
before joining the Veterinary Technology staff at Medaille College in
Buffalo, New York. More information about this phase of my life (which
I'm still in the midst of) is at
Education- Then and Now.
Top
...and a final digression
into my personal (wild) life
I have many interests and activities that occupy my spare
time. I am a New York State licensed wildlife rehabilitator, specializing
in reptiles and amphibians. I have spent considerable time gluing turtle
shells (and lives) back together after the turtles had unfortunate confrontations
with automobiles and lawn mowers. The commonest turtles in western New
York, the midland painted turtle and common snapping turtle, are very resilient
and recovery is usually uneventful and complete. I currently
have two turtles that are not native to New York, a loggerhead musk
turtle ("Wally") from the southern US that was kept as a pet
for many years and an ornate box turtle, named "Mattie.".
The box turtle was captured crossing a busy street in Holley, New York.
He has red paint on his shell and a very discriminating diet: slugs
are his absolutely favorite food, but he's also partial to superworms
(extra large mealworms) and will eat dog food if it's available. Like
all turtles of the genus Terrepene, especially the eastern box
turtle, "Mattie" is protected by New York State hunting laws;
he is classified as small game with no open season, and possession of
Terrepene turtles is illegal except by wildlife rehabilitators
or people with educational permits. Due to the red paint, distance from
his home range in the midwestern United States and preference for mealworms
and dog food, it's obvious that "Mattie" hasn't been a wild
turtle for a long time and would not be able to survive on his own.
I have many other animals, most of whom can be viewed
at My
Critters. Many of my animals are old and have been that way for
as long as I've known them. My two dogs, my cat and my pony were all
owned by other people for many years before I've acquired them.
I do have a few younger animals, too. My herd of guinea
pigs were all born in the summer of 2001. They live at my house (fascinating
my mostly Labrador retriever, Maggie) and visit the lab animal and exotic
animal classes at Medaille College to give the students the opportunity
to handle, observe and restrain guinea pigs. I also have two dumbo rats
(with extra-large ears). Rats make great pets--they're friendly, they rarely bite, they're clean
and they love to cuddle.
Top
