George, A Faithful Friend -- Lawrence KS
N 38° 58.715 W 095° 14.067
15S E 306446 N 4316774
A simple memorial to George, "A Faithful Friend" sits outside the front door of the former Union Pacific Depot, now the Lawrence KS Visitor Center.
Waymark Code: WMGTET
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 04/08/2013
Views: 5
Blasterz are always on the look-out for little details in places like this. Those little details often tell you more about the heart of a community than any number of historic markers and sculptures (although those are important too!)
On this hunt, we photographed a simple memorial stone under a flowering tree that reads:
GEORGE
Died Oct. 5, 1950
A Faithful Friend
Who is George? Was he a person or an animal? Could he have been someone who came by every day to watch the trains? Was he a station cat or engineer's dog from the steam-era? Was he a beloved janitor or station employee?
We looked on the internet, but initially found nothing. So we called the nice ladies at the Visitor Center for the story.
According to them, George was a friendly dog, who started hanging around the train station, which during this era was EXCEPTIONALLY BUSY with troop and passenger trains coming through every day.
People passing through would share their lunches with him, train crews would pet and feed him, and eventually he was "adopted" by everyone (and no one) as the UP depot's pet.
George greeted trains, entertained restless children, was always willing to listen to a lonely traveleer, or would gratefully accept a scratch behind the ears. He brought his special personality to bear on this depot, which could be a busy and impersonal place.
When he died, he was buried at the passenger entrance to the depot under a small tombstone.
With those bits of information, we decided to do a newspaper search. We figured Lawrence was still a smallish city back then, and Geoirge would have been well-known. We found two Lawrence Daily Journal-World newspaper stories about George from a pay newspaper archive website (we are members). We have transcribed and reproduced those stories here:
"Lawrence Daily Journal-World Monday 19 Apr 1943, pg 5 col 5
“GEORGE” PICKS JOB AS MASCOT AT U. P. STATION
Dog license No. 221 was issued this week to “Union Pacific boys” who came to the local depot about Christmastime as a stray and has since become the station mascot.
When it was announced that the police would start taking up unlicensed dogs on April 20, the “gang” around the Union Pacific station chipped in and had George vaccinated for rabies, and bought him a license and a collar. Employees at the passenger depot, freight house workers, trainmen, and members of the track force all contributed to the fund.
When George came he was thin as a rail and had a bad cough. The railroaders felt sorry for him, and started feeding him. Now he is so fat he can hardly get around. The station frce has been thinking about appointing him a dietician for him to see he doesn’t overeat.
George appears to be about two years old. He is gentle and friendly, and is a great favorite of the passengers, especially the children. He sleeps under the benches in the waiting room, and spends practically all his time in the passenger room or the baggage room.
From his appearance, the station force has concluded that George’s ancestry is badly muddled. He has a long body mounted on short legs. He may be a mixture largely of dachshund and toy shepherd, since his hair is semi-long. In color he is mostly black, tan, and white.
In the four months that George has been at the station, he has done all right for himself. And undoubtedly he has added a bit of cheer to the lives of several railroaders and a portion of the travelling public."
Lawrence Daily Journal-World Friday 6 Oct 1950 pg 2, col 3
"PET CANINE IS DEAD
George was a familiar figure around the UP Depot
George is dead, and a lot of Union Pacific trainmen as well as local resident who had occasion to use the local passenger depot will be mourning his passing.
But most of all George will be missed by the personnel of the station and local U.P. employees and their wives who had learned to love George after he came into the station one icy night in February 1943, a cold, wet, miserable bundle of fur.
For George was a dog -- a short heavy dog with brown and white fur. He might have been part beagle hound and part toy shepherd, though no one will ever know his ancestry.
When stastion employees found him shivering in the station with such a bad cold be couldn’t bark, they took him to the veterinary. After the cold was cured, he seemed to want to stay around, which meant a license, a collar, and rabies shots. So a mustard jar was placed I the station marked “George’s Bank” and into it went small change from George’s admirers until sufficient funds were on hand to make George legally right.
George became a permanent fixture at the station, sleeping there at night. Occasionally, an employee would take the dog home, but he never liked houses. He liked the noise of the trains and his bed in the depot. He always accompanied employees to the restaurant for breakfast, where he ate pancakes with syrup. Daily he had his ration of ice cream. Wives of employees saved tid-bts they thought George would especially like.
He loved children and the commuting University student crowd, many of whom learned to know him by name.
But George died last night....Employees think he was about 2 years old when he came to the station, so his age would have been almost 9 years at his death."
Type of Memorial: plaque
Type of Animal: pet
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Visit Instructions:
Proof of visit is required. The easiest proof is a gps photo of the memorial. GPS photos will always be acceptable proof. Individual waymarks may ask for an alternative type of proof of visit.