About the Hosts, Rainbow Bay Resort

The four of us in the Caithamer family are glad you've taken the time to check over our web site. We've owned Rainbow Bay Resort since the spring of 1999 and take pride in the changes we've made since becoming the owners. As Jackie and I are both educated in the natural resources field, we do our best to respect mother nature and be gentle on our piece of Benoit Lake and the northwoods. Jackie is homeschooling Jacob and Benjamin, and they too are learning to be naturalists.

I am honored to have been elected President of the Burnett County Resort and Campground Association in April, 2005. Prior to being President, I served on the Board of Directors.

We came to the Spooner area from Maryland, only 10 miles from Washington, D.C. I was employed as a waterfowl biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and worked mostly on determining the status of waterfowl populations and assessing the impacts of hunting regulations. Before that, we lived in Indiana, where I was a waterfowl biologist for the State of Indiana. Jackie earned a teaching certificate from Purdue University while we were in Indiana.

I attended college for 11 years, and have B.S., M.S., and Doctoral degrees--all in wildlife or related majors. Jackie and I met while we were undergraduates at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. After Point, we were married and lived in Tennessee. From there, we moved to Carbondale, Illinois.

Jackie enjoys living in a rural setting. Spooner itself is similar to Port Clinton, Ohio, where she was born and raised. Port Clinton is also a small town with a strong summer tourist industry and much water-related recreation. Her father and grandfather were commercial fishermen on Lake Erie. Jackie enjoys reading and spending time with her boys.

I grew up in Brookfield, Illinois near the Brookfield Zoo on the west side of Chicago. As a child, my parents, grandfather, and uncle often took me to my Aunt's fishing resort about 20 miles from our resort. This is how I became enamored with living along a lake in northern Wisconsin. I continue to work part-time as a consultant wildlife biologist. Lately I've been busy working on an addition to our home. Recently I completed a course on home inspection and now am a licensed home inspector. I enjoy fishing, canoeing, duck hunting, prairie restoration, and the Green Bay Packers.

We have 3 dogs: Marni, Gretchen, and Sassy. Marni and Gretchen were adopted from a no-kill shelter in Iowa and love chasing squirrels and chipmunks. Sassy is a geriatric beagle mix that we adopted when Jackie's mother passed away. This little dog suffers from separation anxiety and follows Jackie everywhere possible.