The people of OESR are what make this organization so unique. There are many ways to help English Setters in need. Here are some of the setter loving folks who make this group so spectacular. Want to join Our Pack? We need volunteers – see our “How to Help” section for more details.
Denise – President/Intake Coordinator
Denise found her first Setter about 20 years ago, in horrific condition along a country roadside, and brought her home. Denise has opened her doors to incoming OESR dogs that needed immediate help, a shelter from the storm. She soon began screening applications, and found she had a knack for matching the right dog with the right people, Denise is now our Intake/Petfinder Coordinator, and is also on our Board of Directors. She enjoys cooking and good friends, and one day hopes to build her own tiny house.
Paula – Treasurer
I am employed by a Restoration Company as a Controller; I have been doing accounting for forty years. I am married to Ed, who is a Marine and we have five fur babies.
One day I was watching Dogs 101 and they were featuring English Setters. I didn’t know anything about them, but immediately fell in love with the breed. In 2016 I researched English Setter rescues near Marietta, and there was a center near my home. Happily, enough they had my sweet Earl for adoption. I immediately put in an application for him and he came home a week later.
I began doing transport, and really loved being a part of that. I was approached about joining the board in 2023 and happily decided it was a great fit. I’m very excited to continue to save Setters and very eager to make a difference in these fur babies lives
Mary Helen – Secretary
Mary Helen’s childhood love was an Irish Setter named Erin. Setters will always have a special place in her heart.
In the mid 1990s, Mary Helen began volunteering at her local animal shelter. When she re-located from VA to KY, she began volunteering to meet more animal lovers in her new community. She and her husband, Kirk, fostered their first English Setters for Another Chance For English Setters (ACES). Over the years, many fosters came from that rural KY shelter, but they never adopted a setter of their own.
In 2020, Mary Helen adopted Wembley from OESR. He has renewed her obsession with setters. Since then, Mary Helen has conducted screening interviews and virtual home visits with applicants, been a driver for transport, been a foster mom, and has helped with social media posting on Facebook and Instagram.
Ashley – Application Coordinator
Ashley grew up with a setter in the family, and loved to go pheasant hunting with her dad. When Ashley got married, she and her husband rescued their first setter, Ruger, from a local shelter. As their family continues to grow, Ruger is best buds with his little humans. Ashley loves screening applicants and being a part of helping setters find their furever home. She also plans on fostering in the near future.
Susan – Transport Coordinator
Susan’s love for the English Setter came in 1999, when her kids wanted a dog for Christmas, and Santa and Susan went to the shelter and came home with an English Setter puppy of 10 weeks. . The next 15 years brought her family so many wonderful memories, along with 50 some foster dogs, all as unique as the spots on their back.
When Susan is not coordinating transports, she enjoys riding her motorcycle, photography, working in her garden, traveling, and watching her Setter point birds, squirrels, and sometimes butterflies.
Susan has been in rescue for over 20 years and has worn many different hats from the Board of Directors, Application screening, Foster Home, and even Web Site support.
It is her hope that all our adopters are gifted with the same experiences of owning an English Setter. It is an experience you will never forget.
Kirk – Transport Coordinator
Kirk was first introduced to English Setters while he was the President of the Mayfield/Graves County Animal Shelter in Mayfield, KY. He and his wife, Mary Helen, fostered several English Setters that were left at the shelter. While timing was never right for them to adopt one of those fosters, they always knew they would eventually adopt one. They found OESR when the timing was right, and were fortunate to be matched with Wembley. Kirk joined the OESR team as a Transport Coordinator in early 2021, and is now also helping with IT support. He and Wembley, along with the rest of the Taylor Pack, enjoy life in the Virginia mountains, just outside of Roanoke.
Amy – Foster Medical Coordinator
Amy has worked in the veterinary field for 15+ years, and has met various setters at work during that time. After falling in love with her rescued Cocker Spaniels and seeing some setters in action, she decided a setter would be a great addition to the family! Amy foster failed Leeloo, an English Pointer(oops!), from OESR in 2018 and started volunteering in 2019. She shares her home with her husband, Klyde the Great Dane, Anja and Cinder the Cocker Spaniels and Flutter the Cocker/Cavalier mix. In her free time, Amy enjoys running/working out, gardening and traveling.
Deanna – Board Member
Tarheel born and Tarheel bred, I am a lifelong resident of North Carolina. Married for 32 years with two adult boys, one in the Navy and one in a graduate Physical Therapy program. I fell in love with setters when I would dogsit a neighbor’s setter as a young adult. I’ve always had a dog in the family, but they had been smaller until I got married. Our first married dog was a field setter, Mickey. She was such a kind, patient, loving dog with our boys when they were young. We decided setters were the right dog profile for us! Since Mickey, we have had an Irish Setter and now have an English Setter and a Lab mix. I had been following OESR for years, knowing that we would choose to rescue with our next dog (both current dogs are rescues). I became involved when a shelter post near me appeared to be a setter mix. I contacted OESR offering to help. That was just the beginning………
Nikki – Board Consultant
Nikki grew up with Australian Shepard’s, after loosing her lifelong friend, Dingo, of 17 years, she came upon a skinny, tick infested, scruffy dog, who someone thought resembled an English Setter. Nikki researched the breed and decided that this was the breed for her, and soon joined OESR. Come to find out, once Grayson was brought back to health, he wasn’t really a Setter at all, but a golden retriever mix. By then it was too late, as many Setters found refuge under Nikki’s protective wing. Nikki has been with “Our English Setter Rescue” since the beginning in 2009. She is our President, who leads us in the right direction, we are grateful that she is here. Nikki enjoys birding, baking, and getting the dogs out for playtime at the local dog park.
Kathy – Advisor to the Board
I began my journey with OESR in February of 2010 when I found a 2 year old male setter. When all efforts failed to find his owners, I reached out to OESR, and I became his foster. Buddy, aka Dylan, opened my eyes and heart to the rescue world of helping setters in need. I have fostered over 30 setters, five of which I adopted. Poppy, Booker, Sully, Daisy and Piper are thankful for Buddy. He changed all of our lives! Serving as Adoption Coordinator, screening applications, Heartworm Mentor, chairing the OESR booth at Wagfest for 7 years and as Advisor to the Board of Directors are the areas I have volunteered in. I am looking forward to helping with intake and helping organize the OESR Picnic, August 29, 2020. I am thankful to be a part of the OESR TEAM!