| Memorial erected for Cedar Cove matriarch |
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| News | |||
| Written by Jesse Trimble | |||
| Tuesday, 10 November 2009 08:00 | |||
Larry Fries brushes away the leaves from the completed memorial for Shelly Tooley as the sun sets behind him at Cedar Cove Feline Conservatory and Education Center. The large cats are settling in for the night and as Fries looks at Tooley’s memorial he appears somber — on Nov. 28 it will be a year since Tooley’s death.  The memorial, a stone and bronze structure that stands a little over 10 feet in height, was completed in August and a dedication ceremony was held last weekend, where friends and family gathered to remember their friend who loved big cats. “It means a lot to all of us here to be reminded everyday that she’s up there watching us,” Fries, also president of Cedar Cove, said of his friend. “Everything she did she did for the cats.” Fries added that anytime he makes a mistake now he knows Shelly is yelling at him from above. Tooley was a co-founder of the conservatory and had been with it before the beginning. Fries said she took part in everything from chores and animal care to the construction of the conservatory. Prior to Cedar Cove being built, Tooley worked as a volunteer for founder William Pottorff at a private sanctuary that would become Cedar Cove in September of 2000. According to the old Web site for Cedar Cove, www.saveoursiberians.org/2006/, Tooley volunteered over 9,000 hours to working with the big cats. On top of all that, Fries said Tooley still managed to find time for a full-time job and raise her own family. “She was one of those people with a strong personality,” Fries said. It showed in her work everyday, he added. For the memorial dedication ceremony, Fries said Pastor Donna Voteau of the Louisburg United Methodist Church conducted the ceremony, while friends and family gathered around the natural stone veneer structure. A reception was held afterwards. A flowerbed made of the same stone encircles the memorial, where shrubs are planted now, but Fries said Tooley’s mother planted bulbs for the spring and for every season employees at Cedar Cove will change them out. Fries said small bronze crosses will be made for each of the big cats that have died under the care of Cedar Cove employees so far and be placed in the stone around Tooley’s bronze plaque. Tooley loved all of the cats at the Cove, but two in particular, according to Fries. Dutchess, a cougar that still lives at the park and Brandi, a black leopard who died shortly before Tooley and whose ashes were placed with Tooley when she was buried. “She always talked about the circle of life,” Fries said, remembering as he looked off into the sunset. “Especially for the kids because sometimes they wouldn’t understand the whole process. She would always bring up the circle of life, which is why I made the flowerbed around the memorial a circle, to keep that idea going for her.”
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