Martine Colette founded the Wildlife WayStation in 1976 at its current location, an outgrowth of animal rescue work she began in 1969. She is also president of the Board of Directors.
The daughter of a Belgian diplomat and naturalist, Ms. Colette traveled the world as a child and young adult, often on safaris to observe wild animals. During those years of watching the plight of animals, she decided helping them would be her life’s calling. She discovered that she had an innate ability to diagnose and help heal injured and sick animals, despite few available veterinarians or medicines.
When Ms. Colette moved to Southern California to open a costume business for the movie industry in the 1960s, people began bringing her animals they could no longer care for properly. When the menagerie filling her three-room house reached 50, she decided it was time to move and purchased 160 acres in Little Tujunga Canyon, incorporating the Wildlife WayStation in 1977 (the term “waystation” comes from the Old West, meaning a place to rest and refuel). Ms. Colette sold her business to devote full-time to saving wild and exotic animals.
The WayStation currently has 400 animal residents during remodeling; historically, twice that many live there at any given time and at least several thousand are given medical treatment each year. Over 76,000 animal lives have been saved since the WayStation was opened.
Ms. Colette has been a designated Animal Expert for the City of Los Angeles.
David L. Levine, MD grew up in Des Moines, Iowa and attended the University of Texas, Drake University, University of Iowa Medical School, and Oxford University in England. Dr. Levine completed an Internship at Los Angeles County University of Southern California Medical Center and a Residency at the University of Illinois and UCLA-Martin Luther King Hospitals.
An orthopedic surgeon and chief physician of the La Cienega Medical Clinic, Dr. Levine began his interest in the Wildlife Waystation after his wife Margaret's initial involvement in the late 1970's. Prior to joining the Board of Directors in 1999, Dr. Levine donated and directed the construction of a new, and much needed, administration building. In addition to his duties as a board member, Dr. Levine was instrumental in guiding a number of other projects at the Waystation including improvements to the Health Center and rebuilding its foundation, assisting the team that designed and built the duck pond and was influential in the design and construction of the "Oasis" an area intended to be used when large groups came to the Waystation.
For a time, Dr. Levine took a leave of absence from the board. Subsequent to his retirement from active medical practice in 2010, he returned to the board of directors.
Dr. Levine is a member of the Audubon Society, Ducks Unlimited and has served on various boards. During his active medical career he was Medical Director for Caring for Babies With AIDS and the Exceptional Children's Foundation.
Peggy Summers has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Wildlife Waystation since September 1998, working with Special Events, Fund Development, and Marketing.
Born in New Jersey, Ms. Summers received her R.N. in nursing education at Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. She later moved to Southern California and graduated from the University of Redlands with a B.A. in liberal arts.
Ms. Summers has worked as a pediatric head nurse, nursing instructor, medial-legal consultant, medical facility inspector, and an Emergency Room nurse, as well as having provided private duty home nursing care. She worked at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena as a certified pediatric-neonatal nurse specialist for many years.
Ms. Summers has been active in numerous community projects and fundraising events, including acting as auction chair for five years for the Los Angeles Zoo’s annual Beastly Ball. She is a past board member of the Child Education Center for Cal Tech/JPL and of the Clinic
of Hope for Children in Mexico.
Dean Seymour has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Wildlife WayStation since 1997, working with Special Events and Fund Development.
At age 20, Mr. Seymour was appointed vice president of operations at Color Match Corporation, a Southern California textile producer. Five years later, he purchased the company and became its president and CEO (its principal development was a unique product that is used universally in textile applications today). He then acquired Transite Monofilament and Royalty Textiles and merged them with Color Match, increasing total sales from $1 million to $36 million annually. Two years later, he sold the company to Coats American Textile and retired at age 27.
Mr. Seymour decided to devote much of his free time to working with non-profit organizations and was especially impressed with the interaction of people and animals at the WayStation. He joined as a volunteer and served there five days a week for several years before being invited to join the Board of Directors.
Mr. Seymour is presently involved with the acquisition and renovation of architecturally significant properties in Southern California.
