OHMIDOG! : First graders bid their mascot goodbye

A first grade class in Florida has bid farewell to Murry, the fluffy white dog who served as their class mascot.*

For 10 years, Murry, who belongs to teacher Karen McGehee, had served as mascot of her classes at Astoria Park Elementary School in Tallahassee.

Adopted from the Tallahassee animal shelter,*Murry only visited the class a few times a year,*but his picture was displayed prominently in the classroom, where McGehee would warn misbehaving students,*”Remember, Murry is watching,” or “I don’t think Murry would like that, do you?”

She stamped his doggy image on the children’s especially good papers. His face was on the cover of her students’ sticker books. And he was the subject of a book, written by the class, called “Our Class Pet,” according to the Tallahassee Democrat.

“I think all kids, or at least most kids, love animals, especially dogs,”*said Karen Hollenbeck, whose four children all passed through McGehee’s class and bonded with Murry.*”They accept you as you are — they ask no questions and give no criticisms.”

When Murry died, in December,*”we all cried,” said McGehee, who’d prepared for the dog’s demise.

She’d talked with* a grief counselor who provided tiny heart-shaped pillows with paw prints on them, enough for every child when she told them of Murry’s death. Murry’s vet donated dog-angel pins for each child in the class, as well as cards bearing Murry’s paw print and locks of his white hair.

McGehee also wrote a personal letter to parents about losing Murry and sent her students home with handouts on children and pet loss that Mezzina had given her.*Because Murry had been adopted from the animal shelter, McGehee set up a box for donations for animals at the Tallahassee shelter — toys, treats, old towels and blankets.

McGehee, who is nearing retirement,*isn’t sure if she’ll get another mascot for her classes.

“Murry was one of a kind,” she said. “He was special,”



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