I Remember Pat

I don't remember Pat's last name.
She was a trainer at a kennel I worked in at the West Palm Beach Kennel Club. She was so good to the dogs that she made me feel like I was mean to them. I don't mean that she criticized me. I just mean that she was so gentle that I was amazed at the delicate way she handled them. She was a person who was full of nothing but love.
Unfortunately Pat had health problems. She also had a raging drinking problem. She was also homeless. One time she showed up at the track so drunk that she was staggering everywhere. She even pissed on herself. Instead of talking about pulling her license and taking her job away the other trainers hid her. They cleaned her up while I picked up her dogs. This was a rare show of compasion for someone in the cutthroat world of the dog business.
I grew to love and respect her for her treatment of the greyhounds and to pity her for her health and other problems. The day she was to leave for vacation she thanked me for taking such good care of her dogs. She was relieved that her babies would be getting the kind of care that she felt they deserved. Otherwise she would not have left for her vacation.
She did not come back.
They said she accidentally fell of a cliff while trying to rescue a stranded puppy. I have no doubt that she may have been rescuing a stranded puppy. I do have doubts about her "accidentally" falling off that cliff.
Her final goodbye to me was too poignant for me not to believe that she knew she would not be coming back.
I wonder if anybody else remembers Pat?