FESTIVAL COMMITTEE
Joanie Millward, Executive Director
I have had a lifelong passion for wildlife and animals. Even as a child, I would try to help injured birds, really not having any success but I tried. I had plans of becoming a fully permitted wildlife rehabilitator after retiring from my career as Clerk of the Juvenile Court in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
We lived in a very rural area and I thought it would be perfect. Little did I know then that my husband, Barry, and I would retire to Colonial Beach, Virginia and live right in the middle of town. I knew being the rehabilitator I had planned on was not going to happen.
After moving to Colonial Beach in 2017 and having the opportunity to sit in my backyard and watch an Osprey pair build their nest, raise and fledge their young, I was totally in love with this raptor. I read everything I could get my hands on, but Dr. Poole’s two books were my go to authorities. When the opportunity came to be a part of the Osprey festival committee for the 2022 festival, I was all in.
In 2023 I chaired the committee and rebranded it to the Virginia Osprey Festival in Colonial Beach. I am a board member of the International Osprey Foundation chairing Outreach and Education.
In the meantime, I did get my Category IV rehabilitator permit and Barry and I have captured and transported eagles, owls, vultures, a Red Tailed Hawk chick, a Coopers Hawk, a raccoon and Osprey chicks. We were even able to do a release of a Great Horned Owl!
I am also an advisor to the board of the Maryland Osprey and Nature Festival. My life is full and busy with everything I love. Barry and I continue to learn about the wildlife that surrounds us and in particular the Osprey. I am retired and enjoy living in the best place in the world, Colonial Beach.
Jenny Grimes
Painter and fiber artist Jenny Grimes has been a part-time Colonial Beacher for 10 years. She, husband, and corgi are hoping to make CB their permanent home soon (once they figure out the whole downsizing thing).
Jenny is currently Treasurer of George Mason Friends, Inc., a friends of the library non-profit in Annandale, Virginia and is serving on the Board of Colonial Beach Greenspace as Membership Director. Now retired, in her past life Jenny was a systems consultant and project manager in the energy industry.
Cindy Ligon
Relatively new to Colonial Beach, Cindy retired to Virginia from Nashville, TN in 2021. She instantly fell in love with the river and, of course, the wildlife. Smitten with the Osprey, she volunteered at the 2022 Festival and was hooked.
A child development specialist by trade, one of Cindy's roles with the Foundation is to make learning about and advocating for Virginia's wildlife attainable to children of all ages. Connecting children to nature has positive benefits for child development but also creates good stewards for the natural world.
Pam Narney
Pam Narney is an educator, naturalist, and Osprey lover. Pam’s love of Ospreys was one of the inspirations for the Colonial Beach Osprey Festival. Through her presentations at festivals and blogs on The Colonial Beach Osprey Festival website, she has shared and spread that interest and love with many others.
Although not a trained scientist or ornithologist, she is an academic with a Ph.D., a teacher, and a certified Virginia Master Naturalist with a curious mind. She has been observing Osprey for over 20 years.
It was love at first sight when she and her husband John bought a weekend house in Colonial Beach from which they could observe all kinds of Osprey activity. Later when they settled permanently in nearby Placid Bay, they built an Osprey nesting platform right off their pier and have hosted an Osprey family ever since.
The two main sources Pam uses for her blogs and presentations are Alan F. Poole’s 1989 scientific study “Ospreys: A Natural and Unnatural History” and David Gessner’s lyrical and inspiring “Return of the Osprey.”