Feb 12, 2019
Raised
as one of five girls in a suburb of Boston, MA, Mimi had never seen
a desert until her plane landed in Palm Springs in the late 70's.
Mimi was coming to southern California to see about jobs with the
Riverside and San Bernardino school districts - her real goal was
to eventually get to San Francisco to live and work.
After
being shown around by the school district, Mimi went back to
Atlanta, thinking the desert wasn't going to be her next
move. Shortly after her return, the school district called
back, aware of a job opening in the Morongo Valley. Mimi came back
and in the course of being interviewed, met a man in a local Joshua
Tree restaurant who wrote for the local paper and was also from the
Boston area - he would eventually become her husband. Mimi took the
job.
When
Mimi started the job, she traveled to various schools in the
district - picking up stray dogs along the way. During our
conversation, Mimi indicates the problem of dog dumping was much
worse at that time. She was thrilled when the Morongo Basin Humane
Society opened in the 80's. Though not a no-kill shelter at the
outset, Mimi was happy to have a place to take the strays she was
encountering. Eventually, Mimi was asked to be on the Board, the
shelter had gone to no-kill status and the rest is
history.
Mimi
has been the Board President of and on (more 'on' in the last
several years) of the Morongo Basin Humane Society for many years.
If you have an interest in animals and would like to make a
donation to the shelter, you can do that here. If you'd like to
volunteer your time, go to the shelter on Sundays and walk a
dog!
In this episode, Mimi
also recounts a 15 month overseas trip with a friend. They covered
Wales, Switzerland, Spain, Morocco and many other places along the
way.
Mimi
says she loved her old desert neighborhood, in the Highlands of
Joshua Tree, but it changed over the years, with neighbors moving
or most dying off. She's moved from that area and still has a place
in the desert and also a place in Oregon now, where she likes to go
in the summertime. Mimi isn't sure whether the desert will continue
to have a hold on her or not, but she does know she'd like to step
away from the responsibility of the shelter and enjoy her
retirement.
http://www.mbhumanesociety.com/donations.html