Oh, no, you might say. “She’s going down Memory Lane again.” Well, yes, but the faces, dogs and places keep returning, some faded, some fresh, others mere flashes like distant lightning. I don’t know why some from the long-ago past are clearer than those of more recent years. I do know that many of them are sepia-colored now and that isn’t all unpleasant. They move gently in my mind and often cause me to smile. The bad times and the events that went with them have more or less been erased and no longer have the power to evoke emotion. And so reflection has become something to look forward to like a warm bath and a glass of wine. And the memories begin…

• Annie at Westminster many years ago when she was still handling, propping an Airedale’s tail up with her knee while she groomed the head…
  
  
• The Westie, Ch. Elfinbrook Simon, lifting his leg on the #1 sign as he invariably did after winning a group…
  
  
• Bobby Barlow looking with pride at the Pug, Ch. Dhandy’s Favorite Woodchuck, and admitting he knew little about toy dogs but he understood this was a great one…
  
  
• Sunny Shay giving the impression of the wind beneath her wings as she navigated the ring with the Afghan, Ch. Shirkhan of Grandeur…
  
  
• Martin Booth, the photographer, with his color-coordinated suits and pipes…
  
  
• Mrs. Carl B. Cass and her pinafore style dresses which were her trademark…
  
  
• Marie Meyer and her hats and low-cut dresses…
  
  
• Ramona van Court and her air of breeding and quiet dignity…
  
  
• Frank Oberstar attaching his extension legs to his examining table…
  
  
• Maxine Beam drawing a square on her examining table and requesting that the dogs be placed exactly within it…
  
  
• Lina Basquette playing to the gallery and showcasing her Great Danes…
  
  
• The Gordon-Bennett sisters taking the wraps off their Yorkies and brushing and combing the coats into cascades of beautiful blue and gold…
  
  
• Dr. Calvarezi and his team of immaculate Maltese…
  
  
• Isadore Schoenburg stopping by Dorothy Nickles’ room to pick her up the morning of a show and being told within hearing distance, “Good heavens, Isadore, don’t come in. People will think you were here all night…”
  
  
• The porta-potty that was carried off at the conclusion of a show with a lady still in it…
  
  
• Marie Moore driving judges from the airport to the motel, down a two-lane road, with all four wheels barely touching the ground at the same time…
  
  
• The seemingly endless repertoire of jokes from Lou Harris…
  
  
• The striking beauty of both judge and dog when Mike Billings awarded BIS at Westminster to the Pomeranian, Ch. Great Elm’s Prince Charming…
  
  
• Nigel Aubrey-Jones’s wicked sense of humor…
  
  
• Esme Treen in a golf cart at the Waukesha shows wearing her famous hat…
  
  
• Margery Good, a few years ago, heading for the ring with a dog under one arm and pushing a baby carriage with the other…
  
  
• Edith Nash Hellerman with her stern countenance which hid a marshmallow inside…
  
  
• Shirley Thomas and her array of rings…
  
  
• Jimmy Vaughters and his unique “business card”…
  
  
• Bob Reedy and his wonderful stories of theatrical life…
  
  
• Mel Downing and his vast knowledge of the world of dogs and how it ran…
  
  
• Joe Faigel and his irrepressible personality…
  

And the list goes on but somewhere this article has to stop. There are too many stories and too many complex characters in our chosen profession to ever cover them all or to ever experience them all. Memory Lane invites the walk on occasion. Perhaps the occasion will arise again.