Holly grew up in rural Minnesota, the youngest of four girls. They spent most of our time outdoors and learned to appreciate birds and other wildlife from their parents. Her mom was especially into watching the birds; keeping track of when the orioles moved in and where they built nests on our farm. They always had flowers, feeders and bird baths on their property and Holly remembers that Birds of North America and the binoculars were always close at hand. She reports that her passion for birds definitely came from her mom, and they exchange stories and pictures to this day.
Holly moved to Minneapolis and earned by BA from Augsburg University in 1993. I met my husband, Chris while attending Augsburg. Worked as an Educational Coordinator at the Arthritis Foundation, MN Chapter. Then in 1997, Chris was given the opportunity to transfer to Colorado and help establish a new banking division in the Denver metro area. Fortunately, we had friends in the Evergreen area and moved directly to this wonderful community. Holly is currently employed in pharmaceutical sales where she is a specialist in hematology.
Holly and Chris’ love of all things nature led them to the ocean and scuba diving, and they became dive instructors in 2010. Seeing the underwater world really put the need for environmental conservation in focus for them. Chris and Holly share that they have been very fortunate to have seen a lot of our planet. “We have dived in 4 of the 5 oceans of the world, hiked and explored 5 of the 7 continents, experienced the iconic sunrise on top of Haleakala in Maui, explored the wonders of southern New Zealand, dove with pelagic manta rays in the Maldives, photographed grizzly bears in Yellowstone, birded in the rain forests of Australia, admired all of the big five in Krueger National Park, South Africa and explored the pristine freshwater cenotes of the Riviera Maya.”
Holly saw a post about an Evergreen Audubon meeting on social media and convinced Chris to join her at their first meeting. They starting watching for topics we were interested in, attended a few more meetings, went on bird walks with Chuck, earned their Birding Challenge hats and soon Evergreen Audubon felt like family.