‘A FORCE OF NATURE’
Remembering the ‘Turtle Lady,’ who volunteered more than 16,000 hours for Va. Aquarium
VIRGINIA BEACH — It took 10 years for Marian Childress to find her first loggerhead turtle nest in Virginia Beach.
Ten years of early morning nest patrols that yielded plenty of beautiful sun rises and dolphin sightings, but no telltale signs a loggerhead had dragged herself out of the surf and up the beach, she told The Virginian-Pilot in 2012.
Then, one day, she saw sand flying.
This wasn’t just a nest Childress found: the mother turtle was still there, covering her eggs. It was one of the highlights of her volunteer career.
Childress, a North End resident who holds the Virginia Aquarium’s record for most hours volunteered, died Aug. 23 after a lengthy battle with cancer. She was 78.
“I was amazed she was willing to put in that much time and work and effort,” said her husband, Gentry, who volunteered with his wife to watch over nests.
Fondly known as the “Turtle Lady,” Childress, a retired teacher, combed the beach every morning at
dawn from mid-May to the end of August for the Virginia Aquarium’s Stranding Response Team. She not only looked for signs of turtle nesting between Fort Story and Rudee Inlet, but also for marine animals in distress.
In all, Childress volunteered 16,256 hours and 54 minutes over 17 years. She only stopped last year when her health deteriorated.
“She had that joy of life and that thrill of taking on new challenges,” said Mark Swingle, the aquarium’s chief of research and conservation. “You’re dealing with animals in trouble; you’re dealing with animals that have died; she just had that attitude: bring it on.”
Marian Childress was born and raised in Roanoke and taught elementary school for 30 years in Fairfax. After retiring, she and Gentry moved to Virginia Beach. Shesawan exhibit at the aquarium about the stranding response program and decided to help.
Her duties included feeding rehabilitated turtles and assisting in their release. Childress also worked in the aviary, where she was in charge of the worms. She was outspoken and didn’t shy away from sharing her institutional knowledge with newcomers.
“She was a force of nature,” said Sue Barco, an aquarium scientist.
Childress also volunteered with the SPCA. As a Virginia Master Naturalist, she helped maintain trails at First Landing State Park.
But turtle patrol topped the list. For the first four years, she walked for several miles on the beach. Then, she bought an ATV so she could cover more ground.
Her favorite parts of those early morning rides were “watching the sun rise; the waves curl in; the birds, dolphins and an occasional fox appear — are all special treats for me,” Childress told a reporter in 2012.
She didn’t like storms, dodging big holes in the sand or being chased by dogs.
Despite waiting so long to find her first nest, Childress eventually had more luck.
On a June morning in 2017 while on patrol, Childress spotted tracks in the sand where a female turtle had crawled ashore to lay eggs. Every day that summer she checked on the nest, until one August sunrise, when she saw a dinner-plate sized depression and tiny flipper prints going down to the ocean, she told The Virginian-Pilot.
Childress helped care for a few of the hatchlings that washed back onto the beach.
“She worked hard and gave it her all, all of the time,” Barco said. “I really miss her.”