My name is Kim Townsend, and I am the owner of Townsend Taxidermy. This is my story...so grab a cup of coffee, I've been known to be a little long-winded.

My love of dead things, goes back many years. I grew up a Marine Corps brat (Semper Fi baby!) and when I was about five years old my family was transferred to Camp LeJeune, NC. As the movers were unloading the truck, my mother told us kids to make ourselves scarce, so I ventured into the back yard of the housing area.

Behind the house, under the water spigot, I found a bleached out turtle shell. We had a pet tortoise, named Homer when we lived in Georgia, so I recognized what I had found, but didn't understand why it was white. I took the shell inside to show and ask my mother, but she told me to take the nasty thing back outside and wash my hands. I spent the next two years using my crayons to color my turtle, trying to recreate what I remembered Homer to look like. (That's me on the right, wasn't I adorable?)

I don't recall ever thinking I was bringing the turtle back to life. Only that I wanted it to look alive again, like it was supposed to look. If I named my turtle, that name has escaped me, and I don't recall what happened to it. But the day I found it is still a vivid memory, over forty years later. In fact, all of my earliest childhood memories involve animals.

   Life after the turtle was pretty normal, I suppose. My father retired from the Marines in 1978, and we moved from Camp Pendleton California, to Salem, Missouri. Culture shock, to say the least. I mean....coming of age in Southern California in the 1970s....and then moving to rural Missouri at the impressionable age of thirteen? It was the best thing that ever happened to me!

   I adapted to country living very quickly, most certainly easier than my siblings. I spent summers in the woods, and winters curled up with a book. Mark Twain was my favorite, but my little sisters still remind me of how I read to them, with "Where the Red Fern Grows" being one of their favorites. I was never a Tom Boy, though my brother was convinced he needed a baby brother...that never happened, so I would have to do (he still says I am his favorite sister). Many fond childhood memories, hanging out with big brother.

   My love of animals and nature has been with me all of my life, but life got in the way of becoming a taxidermist. I'm not even sure I knew what a taxidermist was until many years into adulthood. It was about twenty years ago that I began seriously considering learning the trade, but schools were so far away, so expensive, and I had a family to care for.

   In May of 2008, my husband, Tim, was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This changed my life, in many ways. In January 2009 I told myself I did not want to be dead at age 50. I stopped smoking, chose a healthy lifestyle, and lost 70 pounds over the next few years. I started walking along the river and through the woods, and found the solitude very comforting. If only for an hour or two, I was able to escape reality. During these walks I often saw wildlife and regretted not having a camera. I would tell my husband about all the things I saw, and he convinced me to splurge and buy a nice camera. This started my love of nature photography, something I still do today.

   On February 3, 2010, Tim passed away. I lost myself in nature and my camera, and secluded myself from the world. I thought I was dealing with his illness and his death fairly well, but on May 27th, 2010, my world was rocked...again, when my son-in-law called. I still remember where I was and how the news hit me. I fell to the floor, assumed the fetal position, and cried like a baby. My father had died from a massive heart attack. As I lied on the floor and slowly composed myself, I thought of my mother. Losing Tim was hard, but I couldn't imagine what it would have been like if he and I were married fifty years.

I found strength in my ability to help my mother through the next few weeks. Tim was retired from the Army, so I was familiar with all that mom had to do in regards to retirement and benefits, as well as the little things, like dealing with the funeral home. I suppose, at first, all of this was yet another attempt to escape my own reality, but I did some major soul searching and found the most profound inner-peace that could ever be imagined.

Both my father and husband had pre-paid cremations, and on August 27th, they were buried, side-by-side in the new Veteran's cemetery near Ft. Leonard Wood. It was a beautiful joint ceremony, Marines and Army, and I finally felt "closure."

   The Veterans Administration (VA) had ruled Tim's cancer and death as service connected and I was entitled to education benefits as a surviving spouse. I began studying for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and in December 2010, took and "passed" the test. I would enroll in law school in the fall of 2011, and spend the next three years studying law. I look back now on the events that changed my career path, but long story short, in April 2011, I left the security of my family, friends, and home and moved to Pennsylvania to attend the PA Institute of Taxidermy.

   Following the completion of the first course, mammals, we had a two week break, so I traveled back to Missouri. Shortly after coming home, I became very ill with a staph/MRSA infection and was hospitalized for eight days. Twelve hours after my release from the hospital, my smoke alarm woke me at 3 a.m. I lost everything, including all of my mounts that I had completed in the Mammal course. Furthermore my doctor would not release me because of the severity of my MRSA, and I had to reschedule the Fish course at school. I returned to PA in October, completing the Bird course, and Business course and returning to Missouri in December 2011. The Fish course is not offered again until April 2012, at which time I will complete my training.

I realize that this "about me" section is not what you would typically find on most websites, and I don't tell my story to garner sympathy. I am very proud of my life, warts and all, and it has made me what I am today. I have two beautiful daughters and four incredible grandkids, and live (in a camper, for now) along the Big Piney River on the Phelps/Pulaski county lines. I plan to rebuild in the summer of 2012, but because my driveway exit is deemed 'dangerous' by the road department, I am prohibited from conducting a business from my home. I have set up my taxidermy shop in the Doolittle/Newburg area.