Today I checked my files and discovered that I have been writing my pet column for the Moscow-Pullman newspaper for 28 years and have never missed a weekly deadline. For several years before that, I wrote the same column for the Spokane Daily Chronicle.
When Kevin Coe was tried and convicted of raping several Spokane women, his father, who was editor for the Spokane Daily Chronicle, retired due to the publicity of his son's crimes. The new staff at the Chronicle changed the format where my column had appeared and no longer ran a pet column.
Soon after that, our local paper picked up my column. I was 60 years old and was delighted to be writing for Palouse country readers. If you are into mathematic figures and add up 28 to 60, you'll see that I recently turned 88 and my older age has me cutting back on my work load.
In October, my best resource person and husband, veterinarian John Gorham, died. He also was my proof reader and when I lost him, I lost part of the fun of writing about animals.
Do you remember the column I wrote about ferrets that involved my husband? A good deal of his research involved colonies of ferrets and he knew a great deal about these animals.
In my column I listed some of the drawbacks of owning a pet ferret. The next week, I received a red hot letter from a mad ferret owner who did not like my criticisms. She ended it by saying if I needed to know about ferrets, I should contact ferret expert Dr. John Gorham at WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine.
I answered her letter in the best possible way. I also wanted to tell her that I knew Dr. Gorham well and that, in fact, I slept with him every night. However, after thinking about it, I gave up that idea.
So this is my farewell column. Thanks to all of you who have kept up with what I wrote and thanks again for all of your favorable comments.
Mary Ellen Gorham is a pet fancier from Pullman.
