News and Progress

Donors remember their pets through pet memorial program in MU College of Veterinary Medicine

Dec. 10, 2004

Eight years after the death of his dog Choo-Choo, Howard Adkins still treasures the memory of the beloved Lhasa Apso. Choo-Choo's full name, he explains, was Chattanooga Choo-Choo, a reference to her puppyhood habit of puffing like a locomotive as she dashed through the Adkins home. The name Choo-Choo also proved descriptive in another way. The little dog notoriously gnawed a few items of furniture to pieces, but a mangled bit of wood was a small price to pay for Choo-Choo's companionship.

“She was a wonderful dog,” Adkins says, simply.

When Choo-Choo died in 1996, her veterinarian, Beverly Scott, DVM '78, of Gilbert, Ariz., made a gift to the College of Veterinary Medicine in Choo-Choo's memory as part of the college's Pet Memorial Program.

“It still touches me,” Adkins says. “She did something that touched my life and in an extremely emotional, stressful time.”

Adkins is not Scott's only client to have been touched by a memorial gift. She has participated in the Pet Memorial Program for more than 15 years. “It's a good way to try to recognize special owners' special pets and the bonds they have had,” she says. “It's also a good way to support my College of Veterinary Medicine.”

When the college receives a gift through the Pet Memorial Program, a personalized card is sent to the pet's owner expressing the veterinarian's condolences (the gift amount is not mentioned) and explaining how the gift will benefit animal health.

Adkins was so touched by Scott's thoughtfulness that though he is not an MU alumnus, he, too, now gives to the college, on the anniversaries of Choo-Choo's birth and death.

“I contribute,” he says, “not just to keep the memory of Choo-Choo alive — she'll never die in my mind — but also to honor Dr. Scott.”