Smokey

We’re sorry to have to tell you that Smokey is no longer Headmistress at the Academy. She was over 21 years old, and had several age-related issues including an untreatable lung cancer. Despite this, she remained happy and active up until the last few days.

Smokey has been a true joy to us and to many of you since she first joined us, already an adult, a decade ago. She always did exactly what she wanted to do, whether it was to take over an office for herself, discipline the kittens who were attending the Academy, or just to eat fall leaves and spend the whole day spitting them up around the house. She’ll be remembered for her razor-sharp tongue - and we mean that literally!

As before, we’d like to ask that you don’t send flowers, or money, or even condolences - we know you care for us and the Faculty and you show us that every day. We all work through our grief in our own ways. It’s OK if your way is different than ours; we still know that you’ve been saddened and will miss Smokey too.

If you’d like to do something to honor Smokey’s memory, we’d encourage you to do something for your own health and longevity. We’ve all had quite enough loss and we all can do more to work towards Smokey’s example of a long life filled with simple joys.

If you can’t think of anything in particular, you can always contribute to the health and long lives of cats at your local animal shelter, or at DAWS — and if you’d like to work towards that goal but can’t afford to contribute money, your shelter is likely to accomplish just as much with a donation of your time.

Or, just take a nap in a warm bed. That was one of Smokey’s favorite things, and if you really want, you can even do it in your hallway.