Pamela Terhune, Founder & President

Meet Pamela Terhune, the Founder and President of Grateful Rescue and Sanctuary, and the driving force behind the rescue dream.

She is married to Michael Carson, her founding partner in Grateful, and they share children, stepchildren and grandchildren.

A graduate of Ball State University, Pamela hosts the weekly WHMB TV television show “Grateful Rescue TV,” along with Indianapolis media personality & co-host Patty Spitler.

Pamela is a graduate of the Best Friends Animal Society course, “How to Open and Operate an Animal Sanctuary,” in conjunction with The University of Utah. She is a Board member of Skyline Club, Indianapolis.

In what little spare time she has, Pamela loves to jet-ski, play racquetball and spend time in the pasture with her horses.

Teresa Mumford - Vice President

Board Vice-President Teresa Mumford graduated from Ball State with a BA in Aquatic Biology.

“It’s been my dream to retire and work at an animal sanctuary, and when I found out about Pam’s vision and plans for Grateful Rescue Sanctuary, I have been on board since that day,” Teresa said. “I believe all animals deserve a chance,”

A lifelong resident of Muncie, she has worked as Dairy Inspector for the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, and a QA Lab manager. She is now a Realtor with Property House Realtors.

Teresa has lived on a 10-acre farm in Henry County for the last 28 years and has hosted many “rescue residents.” The farm currently houses four rescued goats, one miniature donkey, two hogs - Peppermint and Pattie – plus barn cats. Her dogs include Bailey, a rescue from the Texas flood, and Gracie, a rescue from the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Mike Carson,Co-Founder,Treasurer

Mike enjoyed a career in the retail & wholesale grocery business as a managing consultant & traveled in the U.S. and abroad over the course of many years. He retired from the food business and began a second career as a financial advisor and retired in 2019 to partner with Pamela when she took him to a shelter in horrible condition and animals were screaming for help.

It was at that moment in the middle of that shelter when they committed to creating a better way to manage unwanted animals.

Mike and Pamela have five children & seven grandchildren who share their quest to treat all animals humanely.

Robert Basler, Secretary

Robert Basler is a retired journalist now living back in Indianapolis, where he was born and raised.

For many years he and his journalist wife, Barbara, roamed the world - Bob with Reuters and Barbara for the New York Times - living in New York City, Hong Kong and Washington, DC.

Before returning to Indianapolis, they initially retired to Santa Fe, where Bob served for seven years on the Board of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter. The Baslers were active volunteers at the Shelter, fostering more than 150 kittens.

The parents of a son who lives in Los Angeles, Bob and his wife live with three cats and two dogs. Their most recent addition, Molly, was rescued by Grateful from a puppy mill.

Bob continues to write, publishing a weekly series of online episodic memoirs.

Dr. Anne Greist, Board Member

Anne Greist, MD is a practicing hematologist in Indianapolis. Anne grew up in England and moved to Indiana after meeting, and later marrying, an Indiana University medical student who was visiting her medical school in London.

She learned early on to respect and care for animals through the influence of an older sister who now lives in rural Australia with her dog, cats, horse, and a few sheep!

Anne and Tom have sons living in Los Angeles and Auckland, New Zealand, and a feisty miniature dachshund named Richard.

In her spare time, Anne enjoys studying foreign languages, jogging and riding her Harley-Davidson.

Jeff Markowicz, Board Member

Jeff Markowicz is the Regional Manager/General Manager at The Skyline Club, Indianapolis, where he has been for twenty-three years.

Before that, he spent fourteen years at the Westin Hotel and the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Jeff and his wife, Mary, have been married for twenty-six years, and have three children, currently in college.

“My two Yorkies and one Morkie are my other three girls, who rule our house and steal our hearts,” Jeff says.

Jeff is a passionate animal rights advocate, and proud to be a member of Grateful Rescue’s Board.

Debi Berry, Board Member

Animals and children are Debi’s passions, and as a avid animal lover and traveler.

She has visited more than thirty countries in the last two decades, including two trips to Africa with her friend Jack Hanna, former Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio, where Debi lived until moving to Indianapolis seven years ago.

As an active philanthropist, Debi was co-founder of the Bobby Rahal Foundation, and served on the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus Zoo, and Humane Society Boards.

Her four grown children - including an Indy driver - and her grandchildren are all animal lovers, having grown up with miniature horses and goats, snakes, parrots, rabbits and chinchillas, as well as dogs and cats.

Debi has three ragdoll cats, a parrot and three dogs, including an Aussiedoodle from Grateful Rescue.