Man Left In Tears After Finding The Grave Of A Dog From 80 Years Ago

"Buddie, 1928 - 1941. Born a dog / Died a gentleman."

Stephanie

• Published in Animal Stories
• August 21, 2021

Recently, Zach Medlin was walking his dog, Serena, when the pair came across something they had never noticed on any of their previous walks. There in Kiroli Park in West Monroe, Louisiana, amongst the pine needles and leaves, was a little square stone peering through.

Serena was having fun chasing ducks by a lake nearby, but Zach decided to investigate the stone. "The inscription was covered by some pine straw," he said.

"So I had to move the pine straw out of the way to read what the grave marker had to say." The stone read: "Buddie, 1928 - 1941. Born a dog / Died a gentleman."

From this heartwarming inscription, Zach could tell that Buddie had been a good boy who was incredibly loved by his family. "It warms my heart to know that Buddie carried his owners through the Great Depression," he said.

"All dogs deserve a grave marker," Zach said.

Zach was touched, but he wondered why Buddie had been buried all by himself in a public park.

Legend has it that the park was once used for a Boy Scouts summer camp, and Buddie was the group's mascot. Locals say that one day, a boy started to drown in the lake and Buddie saved him by alerting the other Scouts.

However, research says otherwise. "While I was reading newspaper clippings detailing the legend, I found a copy of a handwritten note dated October 18, 1993,” wrote Lora Peppers on Findagrave.com.

"It says the following: ‘According to Mrs. Dee Strickland, the dog belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Albert H. Jones, 215 Breard St., Monroe. Mrs. Strickland lived with the Jones [family] in 1932. The dog was a beautiful Irish setter. Mr. Jones frequently took him to Kiroli Park to run, so when he died, he decided to bury him in Kiroli Park.'"

Well, whether Buddie was a life-saving Boy Scouts mascot, or simply a beloved family pet, we think he was pretty special either way.

Rest peacefully, Buddie!

We've also collected some dog memes just for you:

Quite accurate. Large and LOVABLE.

Stephanie