Jacci with Zelda
I have lived my entire life in Defiance, Ohio. During my childhood my parents always let me experience the love of animals. I had many different types of animals as a child and was always taught to treat them with kindness and to care for them properly.
I am married to Steve Moss and we had 3 children–Dawn, Caryn and Sam. We also adopted Christy into our family when she was in high school. Steve & I have 9 grandchildren. They are: Ashlyn & Grace (Dawn’s), Kendra, Kerstyn & Kellen (Caryn’s), Alissa (Sam’s) and Jordan, DJ and Bri (Christy’s).
After graduating from Defiance High School, I went to nursing school and graduated as a Licensed Practical Nurse. After taking an extended course, I was able to pass medications as an LPN. I worked at Defiance Hospital on the medical/surgical ward and the intensive care unit.
After my work at the hospital, I was fortunate to work at various places that I enjoyed:
* Worked at Camp Libbey as an outdoor environmentalist. This involved developing programs in a wide range of environmental themes. We had school children, scout groups, adult programs, etc., who came to Camp Libbey to participate in these programs. I also helped take care of the many animals that we had there in the Environmental Center. One of my favorite things was being Day Camp Director for 6 summers. This was a 1 week program at the beginning of every June. For the rest of the summer programs, I was a camp nurse. I loved being at camp and teaching the many programs and being with the camp children.
Spent 2 weeks each summer for 4 years at a primitive Girl Scout camp near Ten Sleep, Wyoming. This involved a range of experience: environmental programs, tacking up horses for girl scout troops and taking out on the trail, primitive camping, setting up new trails for horse rides, etc. I always looked forward to this–it was fun, exciting and different from Ohio surroundings.
* Worked at a veterinary clinic for 10 years as a vet technician. My favorite part of this was working with the surgery cats and dogs. I also was part manager towards the end of my time there. This was a job that I loved.
* Created and directed the Wildlife Orphanage Rehabilitation Center. We routinely took in 500 or so wildlife critters to rehab and release back in their natural environment. This was such a wonderful experience. We had many volunteers who helped make this possible.
* My daughter Dawn and I ran a dog boarding facility that could house 44 dogs a night. This taught me a lot in business related areas. Dog boarding was a very time consuming job, but the dogs were fun and the experience taught me a lot.
*Then came my passion — Friends of Felines’ Rescue Center! I’ve always felt that my past has led me to what I am doing now, and I plan on keeping the Rescue Center for a long time to come!
