Billie Sue Scott, also known as Nana, was my grandmother of 18 years, and Willie Scott was my grandpa. She was always there for me and when I turned 14 years old she got me a sheltie named Holly. I loved Holly with all my heart and I still do. Nana loved Holly so. She was one of those people who even on her death bed she felt like she had to entertain you; a person you can share your deepest feelings with and feel safe that they would be kept. When we got Holly she loved her to death. She would say she was the most calmest dog she has ever seen. My grandpa, who I called Grandi, loved Holly, too. Grandi didn't like my oldest sheltie because she was very hyper, but he loved Holly. My mother and I ended up giving them the dog. When Grandi got really ill he called Holly "Rusty"; we never knew why but she would visit him in the nursing home almost every day. Even though poor baby was car sick she loved to see him. Before he died he held her. Told her he loved her and kissed her head. He passed away peacefully. Nana was heart-broken when he died and even though she had me and Holly, she was married for 52 years and missed him. Nana died of a broken heart 7 months later. All I have of memories of them is my Holly and I love my girl. But I dearly miss my Nana and Grandi, and so does Holly. Thank you, Nana and Grandi, for my Holly girl. You are dearly missed. We will see you soon. I love you and so does Holly.

Chelsea Marie Gaccione Grizzell

As I type this I think of all the times I've recently started to pick up the phone, or send an email, to my good friend Kathy, only to realize she's no longer there to receive it. Usually Kathy was on her computer, corresponding to other sheltie people around the country, or working with photos she'd taken of her dogs. She also liked to send me jokes, e-cards, and long-winded emails. It was a big deal to be able to get through to her on a phone line! And when I did we'd talk for hours about our shelties. That was what cemented our friendship in the first place - our beloved shelties.

I met Kathy at a mutual friend/breeder's house back in 1996. I remember thinking how tall she was! Eventually we started setting up at shows together. Kathy's shelties were always impeccably groomed and well behaved. She would give me grooming pointers at the shows and we'd share a few giggles. At some point she moved closer to where I live and we began visiting each other, always carting a few of our shelties to and fro. When visiting her house, we'd take our shelties for walks on a beautiful path that went through woods and by a river. When she and her shelties came to visit me, we'd take them walking downtown in the park. We always helped each other with puppy socialization while gabbing non-stop about everything.

Kalyn's Shelties was established long before I met Kathy. But it didn't take long to learn that her dogs were her first love. She used to show horses and that gave her a solid background for competing with shelties in the breed ring. Her sheltie "Raider" used to go to all the horse shows with her. Her mother's sheltie "Cowboy" lived with Kathy when her mother passed away. Cowboy and Raider lived good, long lives with Kathy as her pampered house dogs. Even though she was heavily involved in breeding and showing shelties, she never gave any less to those two boys, she loved them with all her heart. Her favorite female sheltie, which she bred, was Kalyn's Carried Away, "Carrie." Carrie became a pampered princess of the house, too. Kathy's heart was broken when she lost her champion "Easy" and it was several years before she got another champion sable stud dog. Cody came to her from California, and Kathy doted on him. When bred to Carrie, they produced Toby, a flashy red sable boy. In the end, Kathy lived with Cody, Carrie and Toby.

Kathy lived in a small apartment stuffed with everything sheltie. There were scads of photos sent to her from her puppy people. Her bathroom walls were covered with sheltie memorabilia. Her furniture was covered with stuffed shelties and stuffed sheep. All her tee shirts had shelties on them, and most of her jackets, too! Her apartment walls were lined with photos of all her shelties, past and present, win photos and candids. She also had scads of photos in her kitchen from several of her puppy people. Kathy loved photography and did a great job grooming her dogs for impromptu photo shoots. Through her photography we took many, many puppy photos, some becoming future designs for Jubileez Sheltie Products. She had an eye for getting just the right shot of the cutest expressions. My cat would help by sauntering by and teasing the pups and manage to get in some of the shots. Kathy didn't care too much for cats, but for some reason she loved my Sheldon and was very upset when he passed away.

Kathy was always fun when we started traveling to shows together. Surprisingly, she was always willing to ride shotgun with me, despite our huge difference in musical preference (I like Madonna, she loved country), and the way I drove. I could always count on her to provide some good laughs and the directions to some tasty restaurants. Her favorite color in shelties was sable, and her favorite foods were ice cream, iced tea, and baked potatoes. Kathy was a strict vegetarian, and didn't drink alcohol or smoke.

Kathy was a very private, quiet person, but she knew the value of a true friendship and never took it for granted. As opposite as we were-and we were about as opposite as 2 people can be-we had a great friendship! We had some very different life experiences, but some very similar family experiences. As her senior shelties would pass away, I'd get the heart wrenching email or phone call from her and we'd cry together. She took those losses tremendously hard-her shelties were her children. Kathy was ultra sensitive about loss, she'd experienced a lot of it even before I knew her. So when a sheltie would pass she would really feel it for a very long time. On the other hand, each one of her shelties was given his/her own birthday party each year! Complete with hats, cupcakes and ice cream, and plenty of photos. I think the ice cream was more for her. Both life and loss was a big event at Kalyn's Shelties.

It was great to be able to call Kathy with news like "My girl went Winners Bitch today!" She was always very supportive, and would want to know every detail of the precious moment, she was a captive audience! Or... I could call her for a good whine session; she was a great listener. She was a good one to ask about grooming methods and products, too. And you could count on her for a blunt opinion on a judge!

My fondest memory of Kathy is the summer of 2004 when she came out to visit me and the 11 puppies I had from 2 litters. I warned her that they all needed their nails trimmed (she knew I absolutely hated that job). So she came out on a beautiful summer day, sat in the shade and spent the day trimming 176 nails!!! She was laughing and joking through the whole ordeal, I sat in the sun (another opposite) and watched in amazement. Count on her to get the job done! She was very good with puppies, and all my adult shelties loved her. She just had a way with them.

Kathy hated the heat, and the cold of Massachusetts. She always talked about moving back to Nevada where she grew up. No snow to shovel, no humidity, and I guess no bugs-she really hated bugs. She'd talk a lot about her former, younger life in Nevada, about horses, about the shelties of her past. She missed her family and her western lifestyle, but she made the best of it here in New England with her beloved shelties. She thought the drivers in Massachusetts were absolutely insane and she never did figure out how to maneuver her Bronco through our infamous rotaries.

My most recent memory of Kathy occurred just 3 weeks before her death. I stopped in to see her litter of pups. We sat in the nursery and examined the 2 pups from stem to stern, then let them out to play around our feet. Kathy was so darned happy that day, right in her element with 2 sable and white female pups by her stud dog, she'd been waiting a few years for this litter to happen. We gabbed non-stop for an hour, wore out the pups, and I left saying "I'll see you in a few weeks, we'll take the pups out for a road trip."

Kathy and I emailed each other about those pups right up until 2 days before she died of a massive stroke. She was 51. She was a great sheltie person and a loyal friend, one I'll always remember.

Never take your friendships for granted, you don't know how long you'll have them.

With fondest memories,

Lori U
Vogue Shelties