In the space of a few days, animals and the people who love them were deprived of two heroes, one beloved worldwide and the other locally. As a final kick in our collective tuchus just to remind us how nasty last year was, Betty White died sometime Dec. 31, the end of the dang year, and Betty wasn’t allowed to celebrate her 100th birthday this month. She was reportedly looking forward to it.
A few days earlier, sometime between Dec. 21 and 22, a pillar of the local pet community lost her life to apparent heart failure. We lost her life, too, although the good works she did as a board member of Friends of Long Beach Animals and a supporter of the Long Beach K9 Officers Association will last.
Maybe not coincidentally, their efforts conflated in 2001 at the dedication ceremony of the P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village, for which White helped raised funds and where the presence of both women was felt. The Village, located at 7500 E. Spring St., houses both spcaLA and Long Beach Animal Care Services.
Source: Rescue volunteers honor animal heroes Shirley Vaughan and Betty White • Long Beach Post News