Farewell, Precious Penny

Obituary written by Thomas Lee Boles

Two years ago the Courier reported the passing of my sweetheart, Sugar the whitetail deer, noting she had left a daughter, Penny, who was as sweet as her mother.  Now, as the family biographer, I have the sad, proud duty of reporting Penny’s passing, on the night of Thursday, July 11, 2013.  She had suffered a respiratory ailment since Fawn-Doe-Rosa opened the first Sunday in May.

Even while Sugar still lived, it was obvious that Penny was carrying on the family tradition as a world class kisser.  Sometimes I invited people to share her smooches, much to their delight.  Like her mother, she became an ambassador for their kind.  Occasionally I heard a self-confessed hunter express second thoughts, or even regrets, about his former activities because of his observations and experiences.  Many photographs were taken; one photographer said she was “going to use it to teach a nature class.”

Whenever I saw Penny’s dainty hoofs stretched out beside me, I remembered an aria from Messiah: “How beautiful are the feet of them that teach peace.”
For years it has been Fawn-Doe-Rosa’s custom to have a party for my birthday.  Two years ago, I responded with a “Thank You” card that contained a mathematical statement: “1 Penny > $infinity.”  She is, and will be, greatly missed.

Penny leaves a daughter, Ava, born August 2012, and two as yet unnamed babies, born the last week of June 2013.  Ava has already given me some wonderfully tender kisses.  Love never really dies; it is passed on.

Penny’s full story will be told in Sugar’s Gift, published on Kindle.

Thomas Lee Boles of Minnesota is the author of Deer Companions, a book about his long friendship with a white-tail deer he named “Sugar.”  In the obituary for Sugar, Mr. Boles wrote: My sweetheart Sugar, who reinvented the art of kissing and starred in Deer Companions, died last Tuesday following a brief illness. Heat stroke is suspected. She leaves a son, Ulysses, and a daughter, Penny, who is as sweet as her mother.

Thomas Boles can be reached at thomas_lee_boles@hotmail.com.  Deer Companions is available directly from Xlibris, amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kindle eBook. Review at:www.all-creatures.org/cash/cc2009-fa-15.html