JAMES CREEK - As a prison administrator, Vickie Kormanic spent her career helping rehabilitate troubled souls and those who never seemed to find their place in society.
Now retired from the State Correctional Institution at Smithfield, Kormanic has opened her home to misfits of another variety - the 48 formerly homeless cats she rescued and cares for at her James Creek home, otherwise known as the House of Nine Lives Feline Sanctuary.
''These are cats I find next to the road in culverts and in abandoned buildings,'' Kormanic said. ''I bring them here and confine them for a few days, then I introduce them to the crew. Surprisingly, they get along pretty well.''
There's 17-year-old Miss McCafferty, the oldest resident; Samson, who has feline leukemia and was found with a severe head injury; Suradessa, who was born deaf; Andy, who lost one eye when he was a kitten; and a litter of kittens that were found in a drainpipe and nursed back to health.
Each one of her ''kids'' has a story, and each story involves Kormanic rescuing them from a dire situation.
A Huntingdon County Humane Society volunteer, she has become the shelter's go-to person when it comes to fostering stray cats when the facility is full.
''She takes in kittens who don't have a mother and raises them, or nursing litters,'' said Kim Whittaker, society director. ''She tries to save as many as she can, so when people dump them out, she tries to tame them and get them to where they're adoptable.''
Most of her work goes unnoticed. Each morning, Kormanic wakes up at 4 a.m. to patrol local boroughs in her car, which is loaded with traps and bags of cat food to feed about 80 cats that live in feral colonies.
The traps are the centerpiece of Kormanic's program, which aims to catch, neuter and release feral cats to the wild with Kormanic as their support system. Anti-social cats are deemed unadoptable, while others will blossom with love and affection, Kormanic said.
''You can tell which ones will tolerate you,'' she said. ''A lot of them will let me pet them or trap them so they can be fixed.''
Young or sick cats are taken to a veterinarian to be cared for or euthanized if they're too ill. Most are released back into their colonies.
A select few are taken to the humane society or brought back to Kormanic's home, where they are kept as pets or adopted by people Kormanic knows or feels good about.
''I'd like to find forever homes for all of them, but how can you part with that?'' Kormanic asked as she watched kittens play on her kitchen floor. ''They usually go to people I've worked with or people that I know are kind people.''
Kormanic never wanted to be known as a ''cat lady,'' but her love of cats set in early, when she was a child growing up on her family's horse farm. She began volunteering at shelters and feeding feral cats about 15 years ago, and she kept it up during time off from her prison job.
Her program is an acknowledgment of the reality that homes never will be found for the large majority of homeless cats and that a large share of them that do make it to a shelter will end up euthanized.
''Cats need a routine,'' she said. ''They need to know every day that they're going to get fed, they are free to play and interact and [have] a place to develop a sense of confidence and security.''
Her home, with its trickling ponds, catnip gardens, fireplace and abundance of soft windowsills and cat toys, doubles as a feline paradise. Kormanic places bowls of cat food and fresh water around the house, and the animals are free to come and go through a door in her garage.
''These guys are happy here,'' she said. ''There's nothing they could want or need.''
When Kormanic posted a bright yellow ''cat crossing'' sign at the end of her driveway, she wasn't kidding. Visitors who turn into the entry off Route 26 are greeted by cats frolicking and jumping across the yard and lounging around on the front porch.
''If you sit on the back deck and look out into the backyard right at dusk, it's the most wondrous thing to see,'' she said. ''That's one of my favorite times, when it's warm outside and everybody can come out and play. I sit and watch them playing in the ponds and the trees and chasing each other around. They look like little fairies, all these little creatures everywhere.''
The joy of seeing her cats healthy and happy has one drawback: Kormanic has to vacuum her floors and scrub down her house every day to keep it clean. She's so busy caring for her cats that it's hard to find time for laundry or checking e-mail, she said.
Kormanic estimates she uses about 30 pounds of cat food a week and spends hundreds of dollars each month to spay and neuter cats.
Her veterinarian, Dr. Erin Brehm, and her staff often go out of their way to help.
Kitty health care can get expensive, she said. Last month, Kormanic spent $1,200 on services.
Keeping that in mind, her goal is to turn Nine Lives into an official nonprofit organization that's eligible for grants and other funding sources. Kormanic welcomes the help of a local attorney that would be willing to help her achieve nonprofit status, or a Web developer that can give Nine Lives its own Web site.
''If I would ever win the lottery, I would get one of those mobile veterinarian units that could go around to all the local farms and spay and neuter their cats,'' Kormanic said.
Leah Davis, owner of Vintage Art Glass in Huntingdon, organized a pond tour to raise funds for Nine Lives and said she's trying to get the word out about the sanctuary. Davis believes that if donors can alleviate some of Kormanic's financial burden, she can focus on fundraising and finding homes for some of her cats.
''She's doing it all out of her own pocket, and it's benefiting our communities,'' Davis said. ''She takes cats off the streets that would otherwise be homeless.''
Davis, who also is a cat lover, plans to adopt two kittens from Kormanic when they're old enough to leave the house. She suspects Kormanic might have a difficult time parting with them.
''It's hard for her to let go of them because she knows that with the care she gives them, they have a good home,'' Davis said. ''I see how much love she has in these cats, and it's her passion to care for these animals."
To contact Kormanic about donations or cat adoptions, e-mail her at vkormanic @hughes.net.
Mirror Staff Writer Cori Bolger is at 946-7458.
