The Six and Twenty Club met Friday, April 19 at the Murphy Theatre in Charlie’s Place at 2:15 pm. Susan Ertel was both hostess and program leader for the afternoon. Following the traditional roll call with quotations and the reading of the minutes from the previous meeting, Ertel was introduced to present her program.
Ertel began by briefly discussing her 2024 club book titled “Silverton’s Bobbie,” written by author Judith Kent. It’s the true story about Bobbie, a scotch collie, and his amazing 2,500 mile journey that he took in the 1920s to reach his family and home. Bobbie became a canine hero in the story. Ertel chose the book about Bobbie to coordinate with her program to share other amazing animal stories, showcasing the animals incredible bravery and touching true stories.
Smoky was a four pound, seven inch tall Yorkie terrier who served in WWII. The tiny dog was found in a foxhole. For the next two years Smoky flew sea and rescue reconnaissance missions. She also worked with the Special Services entertaining soldiers in hospitals.
“Room 8” was a neighborhood cat who wandered into an elementary school classroom in 1952 in California. He lived in the school for the school year and disappeared in the summer, returning again when classes started in the fall. This pattern continued without interruption for years. Room 8 became a star receiving news coverage and fan mail.
“Balto” was the Siberian husky who led his dog sled team for 600 miles through severe Alaskan blizzards. His job was to transport life saving medicine to people where diphtheria had affected an isolated village.
And the story of the faithful dog “Hachiko” waiting for his owner to return at the train station in Japan is always worth telling.
Ertel told the story of “Ruby,” the last “pit pony” of the dark coal mines. She was brought out of darkness, symbolizing the conclusion of the sad era of mining horses and their conogon partners.
“Rex” was the story of a dog who died over 100 years ago. But the fact is the residents of the city still remember the kind dog and his owner. Rex still receives stick gifts at his monument.
A carrier pigeon named “Winkie” was a hero after saving her WWII bomber aircraft crew after the plane crashed in the sea and receiving enemy fire.
“Dudley” was a Hereford steer with a prosthetic foot who worked with amputees and war veterans and kids with amputations. Dudley’s story of resilience and perseverance gave hope and strength to all that met him.
In closing her program, Ertel talked about “Judy,” a purebred pointer, who was a mascot of her ship in WWII. When her ship was captured by the Japanese she was taken to a prison camp. She became a guard dog of the POW camp and raised morale. When the prisoners were shipped back to Singapore they smuggled Judy out in a rice sack and her story doesn’t end here. Judy received a medal for her courage, endurance and bravery during military conflict and living in several Japanese prison camps.
Ertel passed pictures of the amazing animals throughout her program.
For the social hour, Ertel served members and guest, Nancy Price, assorted cake pops, fresh fruit and chocolates. Her tables were centered with Mason jars filled with dog bones and each jar holding postcard art by artist Ron Burns. The postcards were dog pictures of the search and rescue dogs that served in 9/11. “Siverton’s Bobbie” book dedication was to all the search and rescue dog teams.
