William (Bill) Smith

President

 

Bill and his wife, Terri, and 5 rescued cats have lived in Lake of the Woods for the past 17 years. Over that time they lost 4 of their kitties but each time there was another that needed a loving home.

 

In 2016 Bill retired from the Banfield Pet Hospitals as Field Director in Virginia, Maryland and DC. This was an exciting opportunity to work closely with animals and a team of passionate professionals that focused on treating pets like family. 

 

Bill helps Terri with the Trap, Neuter, Vaccinate and Return (TNVR) program that sterilized 3000 feral and homeless cats in Orange County over the last 5 1/2 years.  Bill also loves hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, walking and cycling.

Mark Poyhonen

Treasurer

 

Mark was born in Massachusetts, and moved to Michigan with his family in his early teens.  He is a graduate of Michigan State University, and following graduation began his career with Metropolitan Life Insurance Company.  During his career he has held several middle and upper management positions with The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, ServiceMaster and Noblis.  Following retirement in 2012, Mark and his wife, Tresa, relocated to Locust Grove. 

 

He first joined the Orange County Humane Society in 2013, served as its President from 2014 through 2017 and its Treasurer beginning in 2019.

 

Tresa and Mark have two daughters, four grandchildren and four adopted rescue cats.

Tresa Poyhonen

Secretary

 

Tresa grew up in Michigan & attended Michigan State University.  She worked for several banks in Massachusetts & Michigan until she had children & decided to be a “stay-at-home” mom. 

 

Like many Humane Society members, Tresa has always shared her love & home with at least one cat or dog.  One of her earliest childhood memories was watching her Mama Kitty give birth to a litter & lick them all clean.  In her early school years, she often came home with a new puppy & begged her parents to let them keep it, “just for the weekend.”  Since her teen years, she has also always been a community volunteer, which has rewarded her with many, many joyful experiences.  Her work with the Humane Society allows her to combine both of these roles.

 

Tresa enjoys traveling, boating, etc., especially with her 2 daughters, 2 sons-in-law & 4 grandchildren. 

Yvonne Mayorquin

Director

 

Yvonne Mayorquin, RN has a deep love for animals, all animals. Yvonne is a Registered Nurse who resides in Locust Grove with her husband, 5 cats and 1 dog. Yvonne was a former Vice President of Orange County Humane Society in 2012-2014, was instrumental in starting a Facebook page and website for OCHS. She created and manages the Lost and Found Pets of Locust Grove, VA page to help connect the different communities in Locust Grove with lost and found pets therefore increasing the chance for reunification. She currently volunteers at Locust Grove Vet Clinic and has for the past five and a half years.

Anita Walton, DVM

Director

 

Dr. Walton graduated from the Va.-Md. Regional College or Veterinary Medicine in 1984. She moved to Lake of the Woods in Orange County in 1992 to start a small animal veterinary practice, first mobile, then building Locust Grove Veterinary Clinic, for dogs and cats. The clinic has been open since 1996. Anita had served on the Board of Directors for the OCHS in the past, helping with the establishment of the current building and the addition of its isolation/medical room.

 

Anita has loved and cared for animals since childhood. She continues to do so through the veterinary clinic, having taken in many cats, and some dogs along the way. Several were adopted into her own family. She currently shares home with a dog and 2 cats.

 

As a Board member, she supports the important spay/neuter efforts by the County Shelter, and the OCHS ACAT (TNR) program. She helps with the foster training program for kittens and puppies, and medical care and feeding programs for homeless, or low income home, animals in the County.

 

The overall goal is to save lives, improve lives, and to see that each animal has a home with a good family.

Terri Smith

Director

Ally Cat Assist Team Coordinator (ACAT)

 

Terri has retired from commercial interior design, but never retired from a lifetime of helping animals. Besides her past Animal Protective League volunteering in IL, Terri’s contributions to the Orange County Humane Society includes the Harrisonburg spay neuter transport and the spay/neuter grant program of 2017 and 2018. She also served for several years on the voice mail telecommunications team and cat adoption transport to PetSmart. She is now coordinating the Ally Cat Assist Team to help the unowned cats of Orange County to receive sterilization and medical treatment through Trap Neuter Vaccinate Return (TNVR) program she organized in 2016. She and her husband Bill reside with 6 rescued felines as she has always had cats since the age of 5! This will be her second term on the board and she is excited to expand unowned cat TNVR program with medical treatment for the sick and wounded cats of Orange County. Terri firmly believes every animal deserves humane treatment, care and love.

Betsy Ballenger

Director

 

Betsy has a BA from Vassar College and has been a licensed real estate agent for over 20 years and a freelance editor for over 30 years. She began doing Trap/Neuter/Return (TNR) of feral cats in NW Connecticut, as well as fostering/socializing feral kittens for adoption. A board member of the Animal Welfare Society in New Milford, Connecticut, and M.E.O.W., Inc., in Litchfield, Connecticut, she later went on to co-found Kent Kats, Inc., with another rescuer in Kent, Connecticut. In 2004, Betsy moved to California and volunteered with the SFSPCA and started a small TNR group in Pacifica called Pacifica Pier Cats. Moving to Virginia in 2012, she quickly became involved with the Feral Cat Project (later named the Community Cat Project) under the umbrella organization Voices for Animals (VFA). In January 2018, she became director of the Community Cat Project program of VFA. In August, 2018, Cat Action Team was incorporated as it became apparent that VFA would no longer support a cat program, and Betsy was the founding president, a position she continues to hold. As executive director and president of CAT, Betsy participates in determining the overall direction and strategy of the organization, leads meetings of directors and volunteers, reviews and manages the organization’s finances, liaises with community constituents (veterinarians, donors, other organization executives, volunteers, and colony caretakers), and engages in fundraising activities. She will also continue trapping and transporting feral cats, delivering food to colony caretakers, and tracking the inventory of humane feral cat traps.

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Vicki Thorp

Director

 

As a child, Vicki had feral cats.  As an adult, she developed cat allergies, but did well with dogs.  She worked part-time at a vet clinic and learned a lot about medical care.  She became involved in pup-sitting and training service dog pups to work with people with disabilities.  She decided to practice those skills with her own puppy so got a golden retriever and did fairly well.  Next was co-raising the service dog pup shown in the photo.  Elway was a special fur child and became a mentor to young pups, an educator at events, and helped to get people ready to handle their own future service dogs. 

 

Vicki worked with Canine Companions for Independence, Canine Partners of the Rockies, and fostered a fair number of dogs with Retriever Rescue of the Rockies, where they adopted their current dog, Sergeant.  After leaving Colorado, she began helping the Orange County Humane Society of Virginia in 2019.  Their pets (and fosters) have all been members of their family, and they love helping others to care for their pets, fosters, and feral cats.  They’re all special in their unique ways and with individual personalities!