Hollister
– Rosie Pettit’s love of animals began when she was 5 years old,
when her family left Germany for America on a ship called the
Neptune with their pet boxer.
Hollister – Rosie Pettit’s love of animals began when she was 5 years old, when her family left Germany for America on a ship called the Neptune with their pet boxer.
It continued after her 1952 transatlantic voyage, while she was growing up in Minnesota, catching lizards and rabbits to keep as pets.
Now, the 61-year-old retired Ridgemark resident has to fulfill that love through volunteer work at the city’s animal shelter.
“We travel so much, and it wouldn’t be fair to farm them out,” Pettit said. “This is my way of getting my animal fix.”
As for volunteering, Pettit said she loves walking the dogs from the shelter, and is always willing to pitch in with office work.
The animal lover spends six or eight hours a week at the shelter, she said.
“This is something I’ve always wanted to do after I retired,” Pettit said.
She also gets satisfaction from finding animals loving homes.
“It’s rewarding to know I can help save an animal,” Pettit said.
Anna Patterson, an animal control officer with the shelter, said Pettit has been a big help around the office, especially since the shelter has only two employees.
Patterson said Pettit is a committed volunteer, and often drives the animals to other shelters to prevent them from being euthanized.
“She’s gone as far as driving them to Oakland,” Patterson said.
Along with her fiance, John Cardinalli, Pettit owns and travels in an RV. With a daughter living in London, Pettit also has an excuse to fly overseas occasionally.
Pettit, a former IBM employee, moved to California in 1979, and eventually built a Ridgemark home with Cardinalli in 2000.
Aside from volunteering, traveling and spending time with grandchildren, Pettit recently looked into her origins. She tried to find a passenger list for the Neptune on the Internet, but only found an interesting fact about the ship that brought her to America.
“It’s now a Greek liner of some sort for pleasure cruises,” Pettit said.
