Founder & President

Nancy Gibson
200 Peenpack Trail
Huguenot, NY 12746
845-672-0505
email Nancy
Nancy Gibson received a BA in English Literature in 1972 from the George Washington University in Washington, DC, and a Masters in Communication in 1978 from Teachers College, Columbia University, in Manhattan. From 1971-1976, she taught and performed classical guitar in Washington, DC, and Falls Church, VA. In 1978 she was hired by the Ridgefield Public Schools  in Ridgefield, CT as a Language Arts teacher, grades 8-12. Throughout her career, Nancy  cared for a large "family" of dogs, cats, parrots, goats and ducks. In the summer of 2010, Nancy completed a course entitled"How to Start and Animal Sanctuary" at Best Friends Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Then, after teaching for thirty-four years, Nancy retired and spent three years working in shelters, taking more courses at Best Friends Sanctuary and preparing to open Animal Manor. She opened the sanctuary in  September of 2014. Nancy currently resides on land bordering the sanctuary, with fourteen animals of her own, all rescues.

Board Members

Bonnie Billings
261 West Street
Mount Kisco, NY 10549
914-841-5709
Email Bonnie
Bonnie Billings received her B.A. from the College Mount St. Vincent in Riverdale, New York in 1963 and completed a fifth year program in education at Cornell University. Since then, she has taught English and social studies in Ithaca, NY, Yonkers, NY, and from 1966 until her retirement in 2002, Chappaqua, NY. Since then she has spent her time caring for her horse, Konrad, and her rescue cats. Bonnie and some friends have also spent time supporting community cats through TNR (trap, neuter, return).


Montserrat Casanovas
Glen Spey
NY 13727
845-505-5663
Email Montserrat
Montserrat Casanovas began rehabilitating wildlife under the direction of her grandparents in Catalonia when she was a child. Then, in her twenties, she founded a refuge and colony to save feral cats and dogs. When she was thirty-three, she married an American on the condition that he would help her bring her one dog (part wolf/part German Shepherd) and eleven cats to Atlanta where they settled for about five years. During this time, she fostered many rescued animals. Then the family moved to New Jersey, where she worked as a volunteer team member, rescuing dogs and cats for Safe Animal Rescue, for ten years. She spent the next five years in Barcelona, where she helped create a large cat colony in the center of the city, Colonia de Gatos Canfalguera. For the past six years, she has been living in the United States. For four years she resided in Hamburg, NY, where she fostered cats and worked to facilitate adoptions. For the past two years, she has lived with her human and cat family in Glen Spey, New York, and she volunteers here in our cat building four days a week.


Sharon Close
Huguenot, NY
Vice President
Sharon Close received her AAS degree in nursing from Pace University, New York, in 1968 and worked in the Port Jervis school district as a school nurse for over thirty years. She moved to Huguenot with her husband Ray forty-eight years ago. Sharon cares deeply about animals and the environment. She enjoys traveling, reading and handwork, but most of all, she loves spending time with her family.


Robert J. Creamer
412 Main Street
Ridgefield, CT 06877
203-438-3033
Email Robert
Robert J. Creamer is the principal of a twenty-year-old law firm in Ridgefield, CT. After graduating from Ohio State University with a Juris Doctor/Law degree, he worked as a tax lawyer for a large firm in NYC for two years, after which he formed his own firm in Ridgefield. Mr. Creamer is licensed as an attorney in Connecticut, New York and Florida, and in 1986 he passed the Uniform CPA exam and became a member of various Certified Public Accountant professional organizations, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the AAA–CPA. In addition to serving on various boards of directors of non-profit organizations. Mr. Creamer is well versed in the policies and processes that are necessary for a 501c3 organization to become productive and successful. In January, 2012, Mr. Creamer received the Martin Luther King Award, sponsored by the State of Connecticut and the Town of Ridgefield. Also, in 2009 he was named Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Ridgefield Board.


Maureen Decker
Peenpack Trail
NY 12746
845-856-5616
Treasurer
Maureen Decker lives on property that has been in her family for three generations. She grew up in a large family, including, goats, horses, chickens, cats, and dogs. When she was seventeen years old, Maureen applied for a file clerk job at what was then called County National Bank in Port Jervis, NY. Forty-seven years later, she retired from the same bank, now the Bank of New York, as Assistant Vice-president. Today she and her husband, John, live with three horses, Miss Lilly the goat, and, of course, cats and dogs.

Lynda Gerenser, RN
Huguenot
NY 12746
Board President
Lynda Gerenser served as an officer on the board of directors of the Port Jervis Humane Society for twenty-five years. She continues her dedication to animal welfare and humane education as board president and artistic director at Everything Animals Resource and Activity Center, Inc. and was recently installed as president of the board of directors at Animal Manor, Inc. Lynda enjoys water color painting and has donated a number of her pieces to local charities for fund raising. She has also co-authored two books, Some days You're the Dog
-Some Days You're the Hydrant and Larry on the Loose!, both published in 2016.


Donna Muro
Port Jervis
NY 12776
Email Donna
Donna Muro received her Bachelor's Degree from Molloy College in 1973 in English and her Masters in Teaching Reading and a certificate of Advanced Study and Educational Administration from New Paltz in 1990. Since moving to the area with her husband in 1977 she has worked for the Port Jervis School District as a teacher and then as an administrator for over thirty-one years. During this time she wrote grants and did professional development in addition to her other duties.. Donna has always loved animals and has adopted a number of rescue cats and dogs. She is currently retired and enjoys being a "Mom" to her fur-babies as well as quilting and volunteering.