Rachel left the Dog River area of Mobile, Alabama in the summer of
1987 for the wild Northwest with a black puppy she named "Doll Baby"
that sold for $5.00 at a pet shop of abuse in Birmingham and a kitten
on a string that she had rescued from a frozen pond where she lived
the previous winter, 1986, in Piedmont, Alabama. Rachel was a giver.
This was only two of the many pets Rachel restored to good health in
her brief lifetime. There were German Shepherds, peek-a-poos, hounds
and more. Doll Baby was left in Montana to grieve. We never got to see
her again although we asked for her. Rachel would have liked us to
care for her pets. I even had to talk on the telephone to the dog when
Rachel called home.
There was Miss Kitty that she liked most of all the cats. She never
had a flea but for a day. She was at Rachel's side always when Rachel
was home. They liked to cook, can food and garden and read. Miss
Kitty's other companion was Pepper a third generation peek-a-poo from
my house. Rachel begged for him and I gave in! She named him. The
three resided closeby for a while in Wylam, Alabama. Pepper was the
love of of Rachel's life. A gift!
Rachel called home only two weeks before her murder to say she had yet
rescued another pup, and she would just have to take him with her as
she was packing to move to Anaconda, Montana to continue her education
and work as a nurse.
Rachel's death left her "Petie" bird and his female companion behind.
Petie followed her in death soon after. We don't know about the other
bird. We were kept away. The birds were a gift from a co-worker at
Holy Rosary Hospital in Miles City, Montana.
The ferret had long been gone, as had the wolf. There was no funeral
here for Rachel; so, a memorial fund was established with North Shore
Animal League in Rachel's Memory.
Someone I loved was murdered.
MY CHILD
To some you are forgotten,
to others just part of the past,
but to us who loved and lost you,
the memory will always last.
