Rescue dog peppers widow’s life with joy after loss

BAXTER — Fran and Pepper are a match made in heaven. In fact, Fran believes it was her late husband and dog looking down on her who brought the two together.

Pepper, a stray dog rescued from the streets of Alabama, came to Fran Rodahl at the exact right time and has proved to be the perfect companion through a difficult few months, especially during the holidays.

Rodahl’s husband, Orris, died March 19, four years after having his first aortic aneurysm and about six months after celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with a trip to Jamaica.

“We were packing to go to Vegas the night he died,” Rodahl said during an interview Wednesday, Dec. 22, as she snuggled with Pepper on her couch in her Baxter home. “We were supposed to go the next day, and he called me about 12:30, woke me up and told me to come pick him up off the bathroom floor.”

Orris was gone at the age of 73.

Not only did his wife and family grieve, but so did the Rodahls’ 10-year-old boxer, Maci.

“The day of the wake, we come home, and she’s laying in the closet on his shoes,” Rodahl said.

She took Maci to the vet and learned the pooch was riddled with cancer. Maci died about a week after Orris.

“She had cancer, but the grief, I think, hurried it up,” Rodahl said.

And just like that, Rodahl, whose four kids are all grown, was left alone in an empty house.

But Donna Wambeke was already on the hunt for Rodahl’s next canine companion.

Wambeke is the executive director of Heartland Animal Rescue Team, which operates an animal shelter in Baxter, where Rodahl has volunteered for years and is on the board of directors.

She kept her eye out for the perfect dog, and before long came Pepper. A mix of beagle, corgi and perhaps some other breeds, Pepper fittingly joined his new mom on Mother’s Day.

“And he’s just been a wonderful dog,” Rodahl said.

Pepper loves walking to nearby Whipple Beach, giving his mom a hard time during walks when he wants to play with other dogs, and going for golf cart rides around the neighborhood.

“I can’t open that garage door to go out to get something because he sneaks right out, and he’s right on the golf cart ready to go, and I have to get a leash to bring him in,” Rodahl said.

The new pooch was exactly what Rodahl needed to help fill both her empty house and her heart after so much loss. She believes Orris and Maci ultimately brought her and Pepper together, and perhaps that’s even evidenced by Pepper’s holiday treat palate.

“He eats the cookies that I bake that my husband always loved,” Rodahl said.

THERESA BOURKE may be reached at theresa.bourke@brainerddispatch.com or 218-855-5860. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchTheresa .