‘Make us all true friends to animals…’
“Hear our humble prayer, O God, for our friends the animals, your creatures. We pray especially for all that are suffering in any way: for the overworked and underfed, the hunted, lost, or hungry; for all in captivity or illtreated, and for those that must be put to death. For those who deal with them, we ask a gentle heart of compassion, gentle hands, and kindly words. Make us all true friends to animals and worthy followers of our merciful Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
This is a prayer often recited during the annual rite of “The Blessing of the Animals,” to celebrate the life of Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals, who renounced his family wealth and embraced for the rest of his lifetime, “a humble disregard for himself.”
While Lisa Reid of Ragged Mountain Dogs isn’t of the Poor Clare order of nuns, she does live a humble life, having given up a successful corporate career to care exclusively for innocent, vulnerable animals. Her worldly goods are meager, her limited financial resources devoted entirely to canine rescue.
Her Ragged Mountain Dogs facility at the foot of Old Rag, is a sanctuary for the unloved, the unwanted, the abused, the sick and the elderly. It is also a temporary home to many a canine she has retrained and rehabilitated both physically and emotionally, and successfully found them forever homes with loving families. Lisa has been caring for animals for decades and helped form the Rappahannock Animal Welfare League.
Recently, a call came in to her, a neighbor's goat had triplets and one was ailing. Lisa, who says she knows “nothing about goats,” didn’t skip a beat and took the little one under her wing, bottle fed her, gave her ample electrolytes and loved her.
In trademark Lisa style she tells of her determination in a Facebook exchange.
“We'll keep at it. Going to get her into the vet tomorrow because ...as DOG as my witness... she's gonna make it til then !! Let’s hope she fights as hard to make it, as I will, to insure that happens. Doing my best.”
Patty Thomas Szurek, one of Lisa’s biggest fans and a Ragged Mountain volunteer, sadly tells: “Dorothy passed away early this AM in Lisa's arms. Just 3 hrs earlier she had taken her 1st steps. It was so encouraging, but her little body was just too fragile. When I was leaving Lisa's today to go to Blue Mountain Vet with baby Dorothy, I turned on the radio and ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ ‘was playing. Lisa and I had a good cry. It was a very special moment. It made everything OK.”
In a world where selfishness and narcissism often prevail, and violence and anger abound, there are folks who practice a higher mission and as St. Francis would say, “God’s creatures are just like people and we are not to hurt our humble brethren, .. we are to be of service to them whenever they require it.”
Tiny Dorothy, looking down from above, in the company of her brethren, we know thanks Lisa, for giving her a chance to take her first wobbly steps and for letting her breathe life, even for a short sojourn. Lisa is, in the eyes of many, an angel walking the earth and her extraordinary service humbles us all.
To contact Lisa, to donate much needed supplies and funds, click on http://www.ragmtk9.org/help.html
RETIREMENT DAY
Pat Whorton, agent for the Farm Bureau insurance office in Sperryville, celebrated a life changing event, namely her retirement last Thursday.
As a tribute to Pat’s local celebrity, many clients — and those who started out as clients and became longtime friends — showed up for her retirement soiree held in her comfortable offices to wish her well in her new adventure.
Nicole Hanback, who has worked with Pat for the past eight years, and will now succeed Pat’s role as agent, recalled Pat’s earliest days in the business:
“In 1970, Rodney and Jo Vest opened the Farm Bureau Insurance office in their home. Their daughter, Pat, was 10 years old at the time, and soon started working in the office on the weekends, after school, and during summer breaks, doing filing, riding with her Dad to measure and take pictures of homes, and helping to quote policies.
“After attending the University of Virginia, Pat became an agent with the company in 1982, working alongside her parents. In 1996, Rodney retired, and Pat became the sole agent in Rappahannock, moving the office to its current location in Sperryville.”
Pat tells me that becoming an agent and walking in her parent’s footsteps came naturally and afforded her the opportunity to stay in the county. Many of Rappahannock’s youth aren’t given that opportunity and Pat savored the chance.
Pat is civic minded and involved in the community, indeed The Benevolent Fund, which Beverly Atkins, a longtime client and good friend introduced to her and recruited Pat to be a noted celebrity waiter at the annual, extraordinarily popular fundraiser.
Beverly says that she’s known Pat for many a year, both as a personal friend and as a professional client.
“She’s a total delight and we have both a long term personal friendship; we also enjoy a professional friendship and I’ve referred her services to many who move here, in search of a local insurance company that understands our rural insurance needs.”
Beverly, a retired Rappahannock County Commissioner of Revenue, now works for Rappahannock Real Estate Resources in Little Washington.
Good luck Pat as you move forward with your new venture.