Farewell, Phoebe

The following was submitted by The View staff reporter Jerry LaVaute:

My wife Jan and I, and then my two children, have had several dogs over the years.

Listed in the top three was Phoebe, a Yellow Lab who was 15. And this is a heckuva list.

Phoebe loved to run, she was a good family member, and she was loved.

She will now also be missed, because we chose to say goodbye to her yesterday.

The list of ailments and the types of accommodations we made to her increasing infirmity is too numerous to mention. Suffice to say that it was her time, and we all, including Phoebe, did it with dignity.

She actually belonged to my daughter Kelly, who bought her with her own money on Labor Day in 1995.

Kel was there with us yesterday in the vet’s office. I have to say, for her first time doing this, she was a trouper.

We all cried. In fact, some of the staff at the vet’s office had to fight back tears.

I will always remember the first time we visited our newly purchased home in late summer 2001.

We hadn’t yet closed on the house, but I wanted to talk with the owner about this and that.

Jan and I brought the two dogs that we had at the time, Phoebe and Maisie. Maisie is a golden retriever. What a pair they made.

When we pulled into the driveway, we let the dogs out, and they made a beeline for Woods Creek in the backyard.

They ran into the water with wild, reckless abandon, their tails wagging furiously as they waded in the stream.

They were so happy, and that’s the way I will remember Phoebe – happy.

Farewell, old friend. I miss you already.