I need to be the bearer of sad news, one of our Heroes has taken her final journey.

Dawn, went home from work early last Wednesday (Dec-10-03). When she didn't go into work on the following day, her boss called Elaine (Dawn and Elaine work at the same place) but said she wasn't sure if Dawn said she was taking the day off and no one thought anything about it. We called and left a message on her cell phone.

On Friday she still wasn't at work and hadn't answered our calls. So, I went out looking for her. And we also notified the sheriff. I drove to her home and talked to her roommate, who hadn't seen her since Wednesday. He is 85 and a wheelchair rider. He said she had left to run her dogs at the beach Wednesday afternoon. She usually went to Carmel Beach or south towards Garrapata Beach. I chose to drive south and about 6 miles south of Carmel, I found Dawn's pickup.

She went there many times with the dogs, to sit on the cliff and watch the ocean, write some, and listen to tapes. This day was not to be as the others. Some time after sitting for awhile, it would seem that her youngest dog, Strider, went into the ocean and got in trouble. Dawn jumped up, tore the headphones from her ears, dropped her notebook into a crack between two rocks, yelled at her other dog, Aarrow, to stay, and went to save Strider.

The ocean was very angry that day... 20 to 30 foot waves and this was not a soft sandy beach, but a rugged part of the California Coast.

(again, a place she loved dearly)

They never returned.

I found all these signs and Aarrow was laying on the rocks a few feet from the water, waiting for his mom and brother to come back from their swim.

He waited and barked for 2 days and nights, till I found him.

He joined Dawn and Strider a month later.

Dawn and Aarrow and Strider are in our hearts and will live there forever.

Dawn's Dad Robin