A Little History

 

Doctor Chuck and I (Doctor Lynda) were childhood sweethearts and we started dating as freshmen in high school. We were both accomplished student athletes: Dr. Chuck was a High School All-American in basketball and recruited by most of the best universities in the country, and I was a gifted swimmer. In fact, at the age of 12, there was some discussion of sending me to live and train for swimming at the highest competitive levels. But we charted a course that kept us together and active young people. We were quite the duo, right from the start, best friends really,  dabbling in chorus, theater, speech team and band. Here is our high school prom picture:  

 

 

 

 

 

 

In college, we were all business....  

 This is a mud volleyball tournament that we took part in one summer. That black dirt is typical of the rich soil of Central Illinois farm country, where we grew up - Lincoln Illinois - a town that is almost a carbon copy of St. Albans.

 

After becoming dentists, we began to travel extensively, and we have leaned toward "off-beat" adventures.This is Dr. Chuck sticking his hand in a baby gray whale's mouth. (It's teeth checked out fine!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a remarkable experience in 1997, when I had a one pound baby (Louisa) who survived and has grown into a healthy 11  year old with no disabilities - a miracle of modern medicine. They told us on the night that she was born that 93% of babies born at 23 week of gestation will not survive the birth. 6% will have multiple serious birth defects and only a tiny fraction survive without problems. She was born on the 8th of July and was not due until Halloween. Here is a picture of her at ten days old on her dad's chest.  Her body and limbs were the size a Barbie doll's. Her head the size of a chicken egg. (That diaper is the size of a folded playing card.) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of her at about 6 weeks old, next to my cell phone    

 

and at 8 weeks with her dad's wedding ring on her still very tiny wrist 

 

We have always had a passion for the natural world around us. In college and dental school, we were avid wilderness back-packers and we chose to settle here in Vermont because of it's incredible natural beauty. In 1992 we started helping the Department of Fish and Wildlife by taking in injured and orphaned wild animals. Our medical background and very remote rural home was an ideal rehab and release area for all manner of creatures. We were vaccinated for rabies and began to develop an expertise with animals like foxes, porcupines and skunks. Eventually, we focused on fawns and baby moose. All the animals we cared for were released, very wild in nature, into the heavily wooded and sparsely populated area where we lived. Only the baby moose could not be released wild, and we had to have a special license to do this work. Moose have a very different social structure than most other wild animals. They imprint immediately on people and cannot be released wild after being hand raised. For that reason, we found wonderful homes in some of the best zoo's in America for all the moose we raised. In fact, it was one of our Vermont babies that grew up to be the oldest living captive moose in the U.S. Here is a photo of Louisa with one of the baby moose that we raised: 

 

 

 

In fact, we are still a little nutty about moose:

 I like to make a habit of embarrassing my children now too!



Here in the year 2010, we are traveling to foreign lands a lot in order to do our research for the foundation we will be starting - The Fiddlehead Foundation - and I am meticulous in planning our trips. Meticulous to the point of exhaustion for my intrepid family. We have our daily schedule mapped out

 precisely and drive Dr. Chuck a little crazy....

But seriously,..... we do like to have fun and have always pushed the envelope to expand our experience and perspectives. (see our team page for our individual pages or crazy staff meetings)

We hope you find a little of that fun and open-mindedness with Chuck and I and our entire team.