I recently attended a funeral, one that I never thought I would attend. My sister Kathy, the baby of the family, passed away due to complications of Covid. I don’t think she was vaccinated, and she probably waited too long to seek medical attention. I am not a doctor, so I won’t give you any medical advice, lord knows there are enough ignorant people doing that already. Here we are, two years into this pandemic with not much to offer in the way of treatment. If you are not vaccinated you should be, but that is up to you. When the Lord calls you home there is no vaccine and no place to hide, but in the meantime.

Kathy was ten years younger than me. Being older, I moved away while she was still a teenager. I remember that she had a way of messing with you. She would get something that you wanted and go sit on the couch with her little dog Chocko. I would call him a Chihuahua, but then I would have to learn how to spell it. When you approached Kathy to retaliate, Chocko would bite you. He didn’t threaten; he just jumped up and bit. It made you want to crush him, but every time you reached for him he would bite again. Chocko and Kathy both enjoyed this game.

Kathy always had a love for animals. She rescued dogs, especially those who were old, blind, and disabled. Somewhere along the way she started rescuing cats. She fed feral cats in several locations. She even had a wake of vultures living at her house. I got a picture of them sitting on the fence by the swimming pool waiting for her to feed the cats, so they could eat with them. I use the picture in my nuisance wildlife program. She also fed the deer in her backyard.

Kathy was fascinated with ghosts. She could spin a ghost story and make believers of her audience. There was an old chain embedded in a tree branch at the front of Dad’s property and she decided that it was used to hang someone. I explained that it was most likely used to hang a block and tackle to pull a car engine. She then started telling me the name of the person that was hung and why. Her house was haunted, and she knew the people’s names and why they were haunting the house. I think she was friends with them. All the kids remember Aunt Kathy’s ghost stories.

Kathy had a pretty smile that she inherited from our mother, and she loved all the kids, especially her grandkids. She was a Godly woman; she loved the Lord, and we know she is in Heaven. But, as I sit in the pew with the family listening to the priest talk about how much Kathy loved her cats; a cat walks down the center aisle of the church, crosses in front of the altar, and goes behind the organ where it stays until the service ends. Nobody but the Crazy Cat Lady could have pulled that off. I can’t believe she is gone, but obviously she is still messing with us.

Frank Hancock has worked as a Farm Manager, Vocational Agriculture Teacher, Vice President at Snapper and currently serves as the University of Georgia Agricultural Extension Agent in Henry County. He is a also a member of the Heritage Writers Group.