Welcome to Our Tribe: Cathy Van Bebber

Patricia Crain, Class of 2018, Recent Bluestem Transfer

My name is Cathy Van Bebber, an Army brat who has moved and lived all over the world. As a child and, like most of you, I lived outdoors, playing with my friends from early morning until dusk.

When my husband and I moved to Sherman, I went back to college and got degrees in Early Christianity and Jewish History—which did not qualify me to do anything with nature. LOL!

That all changed about 15 years ago when my children were older and I needed something to do. I was asked to be on the Board of Friends of Hagerman and a whole new world opened up. Soon after, I along with a group of nine fellow nature lovers formed the Bluestem Chapter of Texas Master Naturalist, which grew into a successful and vibrant chapter of TMN. This year I switched over to Blackland Prairie.

My passion is doing volunteer work at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge here in Sherman, where I am currently the President of the Friends of Hagerman NWR organization. In the past I have been responsible for overseeing our public school visits as Education Director. I have helped with many Friends’ projects, including the building of our brand new Environmental Education Pavilion, a project that was years in the making. I also organize many of the Friends’ special events at the refuge, including our Bird Fest 4-day celebration in 2014, and our successful Choctaw Culture Day and NatureOlogy camp for children this past spring.

Currently, I work with the Friends of Hagerman NWR Bluebird Adopt-A-Nest Program, by helping to monitor our 45 nestboxes and the reporting of results to Cornell. I also enjoy helping visitors find and identify birds and other wildlife in the Nature Nook store at the Visitor Center, and by leading tram/birding tours of the refuge,. I also help edit the monthly Featherless Flyer, with nature articles and all the VH, AT and Photo Club events offered at Hagerman.

What I find most interesting about the volunteers who work at Hagerman is that we all think of the refuge as “OUR REFUGE!”