To our beloved companion, Katy.

You gave us twelve wonderful years of happy memories. You enriched the lives of all you touched, and had countless friends in several species. None of us will ever be the same without you, and yet are better for having shared our lives with you. Your passing was such a loss that even the heavens wept for days. She loved all and was loved by all. We shall miss you terribly.

Katy lead a full and exciting life. Born July 26, 1986, in Bakersfield,  CA as Quailwood Katherine of Nortonwood, she was felt not "fit" for show due to a distinctive ridge of hair on her nose. Thus, she was put up for adoption, whereupon she adopted a visitor who would become her mom for the next twelve years. Katy was cared for as any child and ultimately moved with her mom to Phoenix, AZ, where I became her dad. There she helped "break in" a new house, made room for her sister Daisy, a starving stray that appeared one day and had many adventures. 

We will always remember her single-minded dive into the backyard lake after a baby duck, and the time she ran joyfully across the golf course, realizing in midair that there was a water hazard on the other side of that grassy knoll. Katy taught Daisy how to swim, and how to be a good dog, but Daisy also helped Katy learn how to tear up a living room while mom and dad slept, and how to un-install an underground sprinkler system. I suppose they thought it was a fair exchange of "technology." Katy was also recognized as a Petsmart Dog of the Month for coming to the aid of my father, having a heart attack in the night, and alerting my mother. To this day they believe Katy saved his life.

Katy had a quality about her that was very human. She was very in tune to our feelings, and hated for anybody to be angry or sad. Although she mumbled, she would talk to us about her adventures each day. (Some of you with Golden Retrievers know what I mean.) Even her smile seemed, at times, human.

In time, Katy and her mom moved to Palo Alto where they were constant and inseparable companions. She went everywhere with her mom. She was as happy riding in her Explorer as she was sitting in her front yard making friends, or in her back yard enjoying the flowers and grass planted just for her. (Although there was the occasional disagreement about which spot should be used for a plant, and which for a bone.) She enjoyed walking the trails in Palo Alto, and had many other adventures until a sudden illness took her from us. She died in our arms on May 27, 1998.

Until we meet again.

Katy's family can be reached at her favorite nickname:  Slobberjaw@AOL.com

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