Ronnie writes, âI fell in love with the Mendocino Coast as a 9-year-old when I came to camp at the Mendocino Woodlands and visited Homer and Lil Drinkwaterâs Remedy Store in Mendocino for an ice cream. I stood on the board sidewalk to watch a man ride down the dirt street on horseback and tie up to a hitching rail in front of the store. I knew Iâd found that spot on earth where I belonged.â But between 1951 and her move to Mendocino in 1987, she finished college at UC Berkeley, worked as an emergency room and laboratory medical technologist in Modesto, California, retired from a 17 year marriage and moved to Davis where she raised her two sons as a single mother. âWhen they were both off to college, I knew my time had come, and moved to Mendocino where Iâve now lived for 26 years.â
âThe Wildlife program started by accident a week after I moved here, when I visited veterinarian Jan Detrickâs office to get cat food, and he showed me a permanently disabled Great Horned Owl he had rescued.â It was Woodlands Wildlifeâs first bird. During the next 26 years, Woodlands Wildlife grew into Mendocino Countyâs only wildlife rehab center, and in her free time James wrote the National Historic Landmark nomination and served as President of the Board of Directors for the Mendocino Woodlands Outdoor Center for 13 years. In 2008 she led the community drive to raise $62,000 to restore the Little River Improvement Club (Little Riverâs 125-year-old Good Templarsâ Lodge and community center building) and opened it as a museum and meeting hall.
Songs "Indian Maiden" and "Here Comes Love" created and performed by Janie Rezner. www.janierezner.com