Ottawa woman looking for person who engraved rock with dog’s name on Pugwash beach
Hilary Powell had a very special dog.
To think someone else had a special dog with the same name is more than a coincidence to the Ottawa resident who summers in Pugwash.
It was during a walk on the beach last summer that she came across a rock with a special inscription – one that made her shed tears of remembrance and joy.
“I had a very special dog named Hannah that I rescued in 2009. It was the very first dog I had in my adult life. She was an absolute sweetheart who helped me through some difficult times in life, but she ended up passing away with cancer in 2014,” Powell said. “Last summer I was walking on the beach and a friend’s son called over to me to come over and look at this rock. Someone had engraved on this big boulder ‘ Hannah a great dog.’
“I could not believe it because what are the chances that someone else had a great dog named Hannah that they wanted to pay tribute to. I was so happy to see it and to think someone else had a great dog named Hannah.”
Powell said shed plenty of tears upon discovering the boulder. Now she’s hoping to find the person who left the message to let him or her know that she too had a special dog with the same name.
Powell asked her uncle Richard, who lives close to the area, if he could find out who made the inscription, but there has been no luck so far. She said the inscription looks professionally done and it was done by someone who cared a lot about his or her dog.
Hannah came into Powell’s life at a difficult time. She feels Hannah and her connected at a time when they needed each other. She feels as though Hannah rescued her. She was a funny, delightful and loving dog who taught her about life and love.
To find a connection again in Pugwash is special because it’s a place she has been coming each summer for many years.
“Pugwash has always been a special place for me, it’s a slice of heaven that I love,” she said. “It was such a coincidence to come across this meaningful rock about a dog that I love and a place that I love. I was just blown away. What are the chances of that?”
Powell asked around the community but no one seemed to know anything about the rock or whose dog Hannah might be. She is confident the inscription was placed by someone from the Pugwash area and she believes it was placed there just before she found it because she walks on that beach every summer and never noticed the inscription until then.
“I suspect it was pretty recent, like within the last year because I would’ve seen it, unless I didn’t notice it before. It’s a pretty big rock that’s hard to miss and I walk on that beach all the time,” she said. “I would’ve seen it.”
When she returned to the village in December she wanted to go looking for the rock again, but ice and snow prevented her from seeing if it’s still there or if it had been turned over. She’s hoping to find the rock again this summer.
If she finds the person who made the inscription she’d love to share a coffee or a glass of wine to swap stories about their special dogs.
“I’d love to hear their stories about Hannah and share mine,” she said. “This is a great memorial about two great dogs and it’s something I’d love the person who made the engraving to know.”