Volunteers
When volunteers join Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, our mission is stronger and our lives gain more meaning. That’s part of the reason many volunteers stay involved with our independent, nonprofit institution for 10, 20, or even 30 years or more, whether they are helping children learn to fish, deepening visitors’ experience in Mote Aquarium, helping to shepherd Mote’s strategic goals or spreading the word about Mote and the oceans in our communities.
The entire Mote Family treasures our 1,782 volunteers and thanks them for their 117,013 hours of service in the past fiscal year alone. Here are just a few volunteers reaching major milestones this year.
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Lt. Gen. Howard Crowell (retired), Mote’s first Trustee Emeritus
Retired Lieutenant General Howard Crowell grew up on the Massachusetts coast, fishing, swimming, boating and even working in a boat yard. “Water was my life,” Crowell said of his youth. After a childhood by the sea, he joined the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in college — a decision that launched a 34-year career with the U.S. Army and took him away from the water until his retirement in 1988.
Crowell retired as a lieutenant general and moved to Florida with his wife, Sally. In 1996, Florida State Sen. and Mote Marine Laboratory Trustee Bob Johnson invited the general to return to his maritime roots as vice president for development at Mote. In this essential role for the nonprofit Lab, Crowell experienced the thrill of watching the Mote researchers inspire donors with their enthusiasm. “To inspire someone, you have to be comfortable with what you’re talking about, proud of it.”
Crowell worked for Mote for six years before he left to become CEO of The Glenridge on Palmer Ranch. After his departure, he was named an Honorary Trustee. Subsequently, he was elected a Trustee and volunteered his time in numerous roles on Mote’s Board, including Treasurer. Upon stepping down from the Board this spring, Crowell was named the first Trustee Emeritus in Mote's history to honor his vital leadership, spanning about two decades, both through his employment and his exemplary volunteer service and support as a Mote Trustee. He continues to raise awareness of Mote's work and remains a cherished friend of the Lab.
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Capt. Bobby Hilbrunner, volunteer for 30 years
To say Captain Bobby Hilbrunner likes fish would be an understatement. While growing up outside of Boston, he fished for anything that would bite. He had a knack for learning which fish lived where, what they ate and how they hunted. Over the years, he has become an expert rod builder, lure maker, fly tyer, fisher and guide—and at one point he hosted a local radio show called "Smells Like Fish.” Most of all, he loves teaching his skills to others.
Shortly after moving to Sarasota in 1988, Hilbrunner began volunteering at Mote doing just about whatever needed to be done, including “making mistakes and learning a lot”! One of his best memories has been looking over the thank-you notes and pictures from students who attended Mote’s fishing clinics. He sat down to read every note, and the students’ drawings of hooks, knots and fish always bring tears to his eyes.
Hilbrunner has been involved with the sturgeon commercial demonstration program that previously operated at Mote Aquaculture Research Park (and he enjoyed taste-testing the caviar!), guiding fishers during Mote’s Snook Shindig tournament for fisheries research, electronic monitoring of fisheries and tarpon projects, among many other things. Hilbrunner received the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for volunteer service in 2011 and considers it among his biggest accomplishments.
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Thekla Kahn, volunteer for 30 years
Thekla Kahn retired after serving as a medical secretary and assistant for many years, and she felt the need to make good use of her time. She looked into Mote, met with then-volunteer Carl Benninghoff, and started her stint in Mote Aquarium’s Gift Shop in 1989. She enjoyed meeting all the people she encountered and became friends with her coworker Liz Bennett.
Recently Kahn was invited to the Friday morning Aquarium docent team, which she calls “fabulous.” “What a great change, as well as a tremendous learning experience,” Kahn said. “It pleases me that I’m part of this organization which delves into so much research, both in medical science and in our fragile environment.”
Kahn says she loves to meet Mote Aquarium guests from all different parts of the world. “Mote is known internationally, and that’s good! It’s a good place to be and I hope to continue for quite some time."
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Jim Tolley, volunteer for 15 years
Jim Tolley began volunteering at Mote 15 years ago after retiring from Chrysler Corporation where he was vice president for public and government relations. He has won the public relations profession’s highest awards.
Tolley is Team Leader in the fish and invertebrates side of Mote Aquarium on Saturday afternoons. He helped found the Mote Volunteer Emeritus program and serves in Mote’s Speakers Bureau.
When asked about his most treasured accomplishment at Mote, he talks about the 60 or so high school and college students who have learned to be Aquarium guides under his tutelage.
“Mote has been almost a second career for me,” Tolley said. “I enjoy spreading the word about Mote, its accomplishments and its potential, and information about sharks, red tide, climate change and corals. I knew nothing about that stuff before I walked into Mote 15 years ago. I couldn’t even tell a fish from an invertebrate.”
A U.S. Army veteran, Tolley counts among his major pre-Mote accomplishments driving the Chevrolet Corvette Pace Car around the Indy 500 track, helping his boss at Chrysler, Lee Iacocca, raise more than $500 million to restore the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and most of all, marrying Mary Avery 62 years ago.
*The 2019 annual report has moved to a fiscal-year schedule, and due to this change, the next annual Volunteer Awards Ceremony list will be featured in the 2020 annual report.
