Mary Critchell Calanni, parents Elsie and Vern Kiefer (deceased). Currently living in Guffey, Colorado since 1999.
Founder, manager of Big Mountain Wildlife and Animal Sanctuary, Inc.(BMWAS) a 501 c3. non profit since 2000.
Married 58 years to Sebastian J (Sam) Calanni, 2 sons James S. Calanni a lawyer and John C. Calanni Environmental Scientist and adjunct professor for Univ. Southern Cal. 7 grand children and 3 great grandchildren.
Have lived in Las Vegas, NV while working at Nevada Test Site, Nassau Bay, TX, Los Alamos, NM working at the Los Alamos Nat. Lab. Broker/Owner of Real Estate Company in Los Alamos. Part time instructor in business courses at San Jacinto College, Houston, Tx 1979-1985. Part-time instructor in business courses Univ. of NM, Los Alamos Campus 1994.
Moved to Colorado in 1995 upon husbands retirement from Johnson Controls, Inc. where he worked as Senior V.P.Johnson Controls World Services, Inc.
We purchased land in Guffey, Co.in 1999 (250 acres) to start our animal sanctuary for abused, abandoned, physically impaired animals not able to be adopted. Dedicated our 250 acres to a wildlife conservation easement, no kill area.
Loved going to school at Catalina which if I remember correctly was referred to as "Disneyland".
You can go to our other
Click on the "about" and they tell how we merged BMWAS, 501(c)3 non profit sanctuary and the Middle Way Sanctuary for horses. BMWAS rescues all kinds of animals and the Middle Way mustangs and horses in need of re homing. In 2018 I crashed with heavy metal poisoning and fortunately with my friend Julia (Middle Way Sanctuary) and my environmental doctor they pulled me through thanks to chelation. Since my horses were relocated due to my not having the energy to care for them, I have another friend who runs a non profit wild mustang horse rescue and she grazes 4 of them on our 250 acres from May through Nov. She takes care of them and I have the pleasure of their company.
Here's a recent photo of Mary with a young pup:
