The year was
1946. Presto was eight years old and had just retired from the British
Army. Or rather he got retired because he was getting older and was
becoming a little
shell shocked. In earlier
days loud noises like the guns of war did not bother him but in the
latter stages of the war he became ‘gun shy’ and it was
adversely affecting his performance. In a way it was good timing as
just as his performance as declining; so was the war. Presto was a ‘messenger’ dog. He carried messages between units. He was a full-fledged member
of the British Army and had been so all of his adult life. He was trained
in England and had served in Italy and Africa. He was given awards the
same as human soldiers and had a medal for bravery.
A person, whose name has
now been lost, was Presto’s caretaker/handler. He had to find
a good home for Presto and he gave Presto to a gentleman whom he knew
would provide this good home. The gentleman’s name was Mr. Blondell
and he lived in Portrush, Northern Ireland. Portrush is a small fishing
village on the very northern tip of Northern Ireland just across the
North Channel from Scotland. Mr. Blondell brought Presto home to Portrush
in 1946.
Mr. Blondell lived down
the street a little ways from the McCandless family, Hugh and Jean
and their six children; in order, Moneta, Georgina, Jeannine, Henry,
Elizabeth, and Isobel. Mr. Blondell was a good friend of the McCandless
family
and they saw each other frequently.
Maybe because of all the McCandless children Presto decided he liked
that family better. He ‘adopted’ them and was spending more
time at their house than his own. A special bond quickly developed between
Presto and the children, especially Moneta, and Mr. McCandless and Mr.
Blondell decided to formalize a different living arrangement for Presto.
Formalize is almost definitely too strong a word because what probably
happened was Mr. Blondell said to Mr. McCandless, ‘you keep him’.
And so it came to pass that Presto became a McCandless.
Presto was an Alsatian,
or, as they are more commonly known, a German Shepherd. The strongest
of bonds were quickly formed between every member of the family and
Presto. He was a friend and a protector. No one would ever threaten
the family and especially the children.
Presto was the kids' constant companion. Well, almost constant. Liz and Isobel were walking with
him one day when a man stopped and asked the children if Presto liked
to
ride in cars. Presto answered
that question himself by bounding into the car. To the girls’
surprise and dismay, the man drove off with Presto. Liz and Isobel had
no choice but to continue walking home and when they got there they
were too scared to tell what had happened so they didn’t. They
just said they didn’t know where Presto was. Which was actually
very true, they didn’t. Thank goodness, in a day or so, Presto
came home none the worse for his journey. No one ever knew who this
man was or where Presto had been but it was pretty certain that no one
would be able to keep Presto from returning home.
Jeannine, even now, 50
years later still gets a sparkle in her eye and her face lights up
remembering that little escapade and some of the other things that
Presto did. Her memory is as sharp as if these things happened yesterday.
Presto, probably
harkening back to his former life as a messenger dog would run errands
for Mrs. McCandless. She would give Presto a basket with a note in
it listing the groceries she needed and Presto would go to the grocery
store where the proprietor would put those items in the basket and
Presto would bring them home. One day when Presto was returning home
a bad dog named Red decided he wanted those groceries. Well, Presto
made short work of Red but in the process the groceries got scattered.
Presto gathered them and brought them home but got a scolding from
Mom because they were dirty. A family friend who had witnessed the
incident showed up and told Mom what had happened and saved Presto
from further scolding.
There was
another time that Presto got scolded and had to later be apologized
to. A man came to the house and Presto growled at him. Mr. McCandless
reprimanded Presto but it turned out later that this man was a thief.
Mr. McCandless said he would never again doubt Presto’s instincts.
Presto would
go golfing with Mr. McCandless and would help him find his golf balls.
Of course, he wasn’t good at recognizing Mr. McCandless’es
golf balls so, to the other golfers’ dismay, he ‘found’ their balls too and brought them to Mr. McCandless.
He would also
accompany the kid’s grandfather to the cemetery every Sunday.
For one hour every Sunday Presto would be with Grandpa at the cemetery.
It was a tradition.
Another tradition
was a common summertime activity in Portrush. Local kids would give
diving exhibitions to the tourists. Jeannine was a good diver and
she would perform. The tourists loved Jeannine’s performance;
but, they loved Presto’s more. Presto would follow Jeannine
off of the diving board to the great delight of the spectators.
Presto died
in 1952 at the age of 14. To this day each of the McCandless children
has an abiding love for animals and will tell you that it was Presto
who gave them this gift. Mom and Dad taught them to respect life,
and animals were always in their awareness, but it was Presto that
gave this love and respect real meaning.
Shortly after
Presto’s death his family moved to the United States.
Presto is
gone but his legacy is very much alive today. Flash forward 40 years
to 1992. Moneta was visiting Jeannine who was living on Oak Island
at the time and in a conversation told her about a place in England
called Reprieve that gave shelter and rehabilitation to homeless and
injured animals. Knowing Jeannine’s love for animals she suggested
that Jeannine consider opening such a place. Jeannine felt that Southport
and Oak Island needed an animal shelter and that was it; SOAR was born
on a three acre parcel of land near the airport. Jeannine will tell
you that Presto instilled within her this love for animals that ultimately made
it possible for her to open SOAR and care for
the thousands of animals that have called
SOAR home. So, in a very real way, Presto’s gift has been manifested
in the improved lives of many, many animals. And not only animals.
There have been hundreds of volunteers at SOAR over the years that
have also had their lives improved by caring for the animals. New
animals and new volunteers come all the time. And adopters too. So
many families have had their lives enriched because they have made
a SOAR animal a part of their family.
For reasons that have their
roots back to a German shepherd that lived over 50 years ago in a
small fishing village in Northern Ireland, countless animals and people
now have better lives.
