2 posts tagged “death”

If you are thinking about digging up the yard and planting some stuff, you should be aware that there are many animals who are experiencing their eternal rest in our yard.  Here is a brief itemization:

• Fluffah the cat.  Right in front of the house, next to the rosebush, with the flowering quince on top.
• Silas the guinea pig.  In the current garden plot, front left corner.  Has tulips on top of him, along with a cement stone that may or may not still be there when you move in.  Silas was the sweetest guinea pig on earth.  He was black and white striped, with tufty fur.  He had terrible health issues, including circulation problems and bumblefoot, and died very young.  He loved to have his chin scritched.  Sworn enemies with Allball.
  
• Sweetums the guinea pig.   Right side yard.  Unmarked grave.  Sweetums was all black, slightly high strung, and very sweet.  He was best friends with Angel and tolerated Silas like an older brother.  He and Allball were sworn enemies.
  
• Angel the guinea pig.  To the right of Silas, towards the front of the garden.  Cement grave marker.  Angel was a really nice gigantic white guinea pig who was Sweetums' best bud.  Also sworn enemies with Allball.
  
• Mona and Allball the guinea pigs.  In the fenced area of our back yard.   Unmarked grave.  These two were buried together because they had an inordinate interest in one another, which could never be realized due to the potential for pregnancy.  Allball was sworn enemies with all of the boy guinea pigs.  He was a grouchy old brown and white man who lived a long life for a guinea pig.  Mona was the black and white female equivalent of Allball.  She was bossy and bitchy and liked to talk.  She lorded over the girl's cage in a reign of terror until her untimely and unexpected demise from what seemed to be a heart attack.  
  
• Sajak the cat.  In the back yard under the maple tree.  Unmarked grave, which is just as he would have wanted it.  He liked to keep a low profile.  He was a smiling cat, very timid, and the only cat we've ever had that would let you scritch his belly.   He disappeared when he wanted to die, and we found him in our neighbor's yard the next day.
  

One of my library's most valued movers and shakers died last week.  She was notorious for her tireless library advocacy, and I am of the opinion that our library would not be the success it is today without her hand in it.  She was ill for a long time, so it was time to go, but she will be missed.  All of my seasoned coworkers who have been with the library for eons consistently spoke of her in hushed, respectful tones.  I never had the opportunity to meet her, and now I never will.  Farewell, Peggy.  You done good in this life.

Peggycoppinger

Elegant lady touted virtues of libraries

“You could never say anything bad about her,” Coppinger’s daughter, Holly Hill, 50, of Lacey said.
While raising three adopted daughters, including Hill, Coppinger earned a University of Washington master’s degree in library science and was director at the Olympia Timberland Regional Library for 15 years.

A former co-worker, Coke Funkhouser, 71, of Olympia said Coppinger worked hard to get the bond that moved the library from a Carnegie building at Seventh Avenue and Franklin Street to its current location on Eighth Avenue and Franklin in 1978.

Funkhouser said Coppinger made a difference.
“She just made you glad to be a woman,” Funkhouser said. “She was an elegant lady.”
During World War II, Coppinger became a Navy WAVE and met her husband, Tom, while she was doing intelligence work in Washington, D.C., Tom Coppinger was in the Royal Canadian Artillery and fought during D-Day. He died in 1981.

Hill said Coppinger is survived by her daughters, seven grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. She spent the last 10 years as a resident at Panorama retirement community in Lacey.

Hill said her mother set a good example for people to use their community services, such as the library.
“She was a book lover,” Hill said. “She worked with them and enjoyed them.”
Hill said her mother requested to not have a funeral, but a celebration will be Sept. 9 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Olympia library.