OBITUARIES
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 1999:
Patricia Nelson, 94, died on
August 31 in Rancho Bernardo, California.
Born in Columbius, Ohio, Nelson was
daughter of a prominent neurologist. She
never married and never had children of her
own, but devoted much of her life to children,
running a nursery school in San Diego
for more than 30 years. She took up animal
rescue after selling the nursery in 1971.
Nelson met Cleveland Amory, the late
founder of the Fund for Animals, “in 1984,
in the midst of the San Clemente goat rescue,”
Fund president Marian Probst recalled,
“when she offered five acres she owned in
Ramona, California, as a place we could
bring some of the goats for veterinary care
and subsequent adoption. In 1985, she gave
us the five acres, which became the core of
our now 13-acre wildlife rehabilitation center.
Chuck and Cindi Traisi, who volunteered in
the goat rescue, moved to Ramona from San
Diego to establish the wildlife rehab center,
and as they say, the rest is history.” Nelson
also helped to form and fund the Ramona Pet
Awareness League, circa 1991, and also
started the Animal Trust Foundation, which
is reportedly setting up an Internet site to help
rehome lost pets and place shelter animals.