logo
Nooksack eviction exposes gaps in Native property rights

Nooksack eviction exposes gaps in Native property rights

Yahoo03-04-2025

Luna ReynaUnderscore Native News + ICT
On March 18, the Nooksack Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Nooksack Indian Housing Authority moving forward in the eviction of the late Olive Oshiro, a disenrolled Nooksack citizen who died last June at 88, from the home she lived in for more than two decades. Oshiro's family had hoped to honor her wishes and keep the home in the family.
The family was ordered to vacate Oshiro's home by April 1.
Olive Oshiro died before the four-year legal battle with Nooksack Indian Tribe to keep her home was over. Five days after Oshiro passed away, Charles Hurt, an attorney representing the Nooksack government, submitted notice to the court of her death and suggested that 'her death automatically terminates the lease and renders her appeal moot.'
But, according to state law, if a person dies while in a lease-to-own contract, their estate or heirs will inherit the rights and obligations, including the option to purchase the property. If a person dies while renting, the lease agreement typically transfers to their estate or next of kin, who become responsible for fulfilling the remaining lease terms, including rent payments, until the lease expires or is terminated.
Regardless of the scenario, probate court, which oversees the legal process of settling a deceased person's estate, was necessary in this case.
Oshiro was one of 306 Nooksack citizens who were disenrolled in 2016. In December 2021, Nooksack Indian Tribe began working to evict the families under a new policy change that required the tenants in Nooksack housing to be a 'Native family,' defined as 'a family whose Head of Household or spouse is a currently enrolled member of a federally recognized Indian Tribe.'
Many Nooksack relatives, including the 306 disenrollees, belong to the First Nations Shxwhá:y Village in Canada with ties to Nooksack and to the Nooksack nation in the U.S. In fact, the Nooksack tribe was considered a Canadian tribe until U.S. federal recognition in 1973. Although they are enrolled Shxwhá:y Native families, they were no longer citizens of a U.S.-recognized Native nation, so didn't qualify as a 'Native family.'
Oshiro's daughter Elizabeth became her power of attorney in 2016, after her father died and Elizabeth became her caregiver. At a hearing in August 2024, a panel of three judges postponed Oshiro's case for four months so that her family could obtain legal representation.
'Before she left us here on Earth, she said, 'Don't give up the fight. Keep fighting,'' Elizabeth Oshiro told Underscore + ICT.
By Jan. 7 of this year, Oshiro's family still hadn't been able to obtain representation from a licensed attorney. According to Gabe Galanda, a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes and founder of Indigenous rights law firm Galanda Broadman who previously represented Nooksack disenrollees, no other attorneys will risk their livelihood to represent the family at Nooksack after his experience.
The Nooksack Tribal Court disbarred Galanda from practicing law within the Nooksack system. Galanda had represented Oshiro and her family and successfully blocked Nooksack courts from disenrolling the family from 2012 to 2016 until he was disbarred.
'They saw what happened to me and my firm,' Galanda told Underscore Native News + ICT. 'The Nooksack judiciary is widely considered illegitimate. I don't know of any firm that's even tried to get licensed at Nooksack since 2016 because of it all.'
'We were barred without process and had our livelihoods threatened by Nooksack,' Galanda continued, 'fired or passed over by other tribal clients, maligned by colleagues and now so-called Nooksack judges, and blacklisted from tribal lawyer circles, all as a result of our advocacy for the 306.'
According to Galanda, Michelle Roberts, who is Olive Oshiro's granddaughter and her family's spokesperson, contacted other firms and couldn't find anybody to help them.
'The judges have refused to contend with this reality, instead pretending the family can just hire another lawyer," Galanda said.
Nooksack Indian Tribe has not responded to requests for comment.
The family was unable to obtain an attorney by the next hearing on Feb. 14 and couldn't provide arguments of evidence. The Nooksack Tribal Court of Appeals decided to proceed with eviction even after the Pierce County Superior Court on Jan. 23 ordered the transfer of Olive Oshiro's estate, including the deed to her home, to her children, Elizabeth Oshiro, Roma Oshiro and Matthew Oshiro.
According to court documents and Peter Kram, an attorney with the law firm Kram and Rooster, who filed the petition to have Elizabeth Oshiro handle her mother Olive Oshiro's estate, notice was given to Nooksack Indian Tribe, Nooksack Indian Housing Authority and Raymond James, a Florida-based tax credit investor in a limited liability partnership with Nooksack, to appear at probate court on Sept. 24, 2024. Nobody from Nooksack or Raymond James appeared at the hearing; four months later the court ordered the deed transfer to Oshiro's children.
'They made no opposition to it,' Kram told Underscore Native News + ICT.
Raymond James finances Nooksack housing in exchange for federal income tax credits and holds the title to the tribe's Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC) homes, as well 99% ownership of the homes during a 15-30 year tax credit compliance period.
'The tribe, NIHA and Raymond James had every opportunity to show up before the state court to contest the estate's claim to the home,' Galanda said. 'Without any contest to the probate, the state court did what every other probate court would do in that instance by allowing everything in Ollie's estate to pass to Liz and her siblings.'
Nooksack Housing Authority argued in the Nooksack Tribal Court of Appeals that Olive Oshiro never owned the home so ownership couldn't be transferred to her children. To be able to determine if there was an ownership stake in the house, there needed to be someone to represent Oshiro's estate after she died, so probate court was necessary.
But the Nooksack Tribal Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Nooksack attorney Charles Hurt, who argued that the Superior Court of Washington does not have the jurisdiction over Nooksack Indian Tribe to adjudicate its interest in the property and went a step further in claiming the Oshiros may have committed an act of fraud against the Pierce County Superior Court.
'We presented the state court order to the appeals court and they said we committed a fraud,' Roberts said in her statement during the March 18 hearing. 'That is wrong. How disrespectful. We did exactly what the appeals court told [Elizabeth Oshiro] to do. We are not the fraud in this situation. Our family has at all times followed the rules. The court rules. The membership rules. The housing rules. We followed all the rules. The Tribe did not. We are not the frauds.'
The issue, according to Galanda and Kram, is that the Nooksack Indian Tribe does not have a probate code to pass assets down to next of kin after someone dies. Considering that, and because the Oshiros are American citizens, they are entitled to the protections of Washington law and therefore went to state probate court.
Kram, the 2023 Washington State Bar Association 2023 APEX (Acknowledging Professional Excellence) Professionalism Awardee, dismissed Hurt's fraud claims.
'Fraud is something that [Nooksack Indian Tribe] have invented in this appellate process, that they have to cover their own butts because that's not fraud,' Kram said. '[State probate court] is exactly how you seek relief by transferring property from one generation to the next.'
The seven households facing eviction by NIHA since 2021 for no longer being enrolled citizens were supported by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Native American housing dollars, as well as federal LIHTC assistance. LIHTC was meant to create a pathway to homeownership for Native people across Washington state in which, after 15 years, they could receive the deed to their home under the Eventual Tenant Ownership (ETO) program with LIHTC.
At Nooksack, one dollar of nominal consideration was all that was needed for a conveyance or transfer of these homes, according to transfer plan documents.
The evictions at housing projects managed by Nooksack Indian Tribe raised concerns about tenant purchase options and, more widely, the LIHTC program managed by the state Housing Finance Commission. This prompted an audit that examined the commission's oversight of housing projects in Native nations across Washington state that offer tenant purchase options.
According to the Washington State Auditor's Nov. 19, 2024 audit of the Housing Finance Commission, 135 homes in Native country were eligible for ownership by 2023, including homes at Nooksack, but none of them had begun the process of ownership transfer, largely due to a lack of management of the program by the commission. Commission agreements required tribal housing authorities to submit an update on their progress toward fulfilling tenant purchase options no less than once every five years, at the commission's request.
The first update request should have occurred in 2010 but didn't happen until 2022.
The commission claims a lack of policies and procedures is to blame. It has since updated and begun implementing new policies and procedures. The belated actions fail to remedy the consequences already caused by the lack of oversight in cases like Olive Oshiro, who may have owned her home in 2020 if there had been proper oversight. Oshiro's home has been an LIHTC home since 2005, so she could have owned her home after 15 years.
'We empathize with the Oshiro family and are relieved they have another housing option,' Margret Graham, communications director for the Washington State Housing Finance Commission, told Underscore + ICT. 'The fact is that the Nooksack Indian Housing Authority (NIHA) is within its rights to set tribal membership as both a condition of tenancy in their rental homes and a condition for purchasing the homes when/if offered for sale. The disenrollment in 2013 is the legal crux of this unfortunate situation.'
But disenrollment didn't happen until 2016 and citizenship of Nooksack Indian Tribe was not a requirement for the LIHTC housing until 2021 after a NIHA policy change.
"It's really frustrating and it's hurtful,' Oshiro said about the HFC's lack of action for her mother's potential homeownership. 'They just turn the other cheek and just let Nooksack do whatever they want to do."
As the legal battle over Olive Oshiro's home came to an end, Roberts made clear that this fight was not just about property — it was about justice, recognition and the rights of Indigenous families within a system that is often stacked against them. In the years leading up to her death, Oshiro fought tirelessly to stay in the home she had built a life in, a home that could have passed to her children under the terms of the LIHTC program.
"I hate to see my mom's house go,' Oshiro said. 'She loved that house. She's gone now. I guess we all have to pick up and move on, move forward, start a new chapter in our life."
For the Oshiros, their case is not only a reflection of one family's fight but also a stark reminder of the larger challenges facing Native communities — struggles for sovereignty, justice and the right to housing.
'We are the direct lineal descendants of Annie George and her daughters — the Three Sisters — Elizabeth, Emma and Louisa,' Roberts said in a Nov. 25 statement. 'Our ancestors did not survive residential schools or the genocide attempt to destroy Indigenous people in both the U.S. and Canada, in order to witness our family's erasure from Nooksack.'
Elizabeth Oshiro and the other elders evicted from Nooksack are also citizens of First Nations Shxwhá:y Village, which has ties to Nooksack Indian Tribe, and have moved to Nooksack, Washington into houses owned by the First Nations Shxwhá:y Village.
"It's just been a long journey, tiring, but the only reason why my mom told me to keep fighting is because we know who we are,' Elizabeth Oshiro said. 'We know that we're true Nooksacks, and they can't take that away from us... We know where we belong."
This story is co-published by and , a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest. Funding is provided in part by Meyer Memorial Trust.
Our stories are worth telling. Our stories are worth sharing. Our stories are worth your support. Contribute $5 or $10 today to help ICT carry out its critical mission. Sign up for ICT's free newsletter.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Explosions, fires on cargo ship off India's Kerala coast
Explosions, fires on cargo ship off India's Kerala coast

Yahoo

time26 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Explosions, fires on cargo ship off India's Kerala coast

KOCHI, India (Reuters) -Multiple explosions and fires erupted on a cargo ship bound for India's financial capital Mumbai on Monday, causing 40 containers to fall into the Arabian Sea and forcing several crew members to jump overboard to escape the flames, officials said. The Singapore-flagged WAN HAI 503 met with an accident about 144 km (90 miles) off the coast of the southern Indian state of Kerala, said Shekhar Kuriakose, secretary of the state's disaster management authority. "According to preliminary information ... there were 22 workers on board the ship ... 18 jumped into the sea and are in rescue boats. Efforts are underway to rescue them," he said, adding that the vessel was not "currently sinking". Pictures and videos shared by the Indian coast guard on X showed a thick plume of black smoke rising from the ship, and some containers lying open and in disarray near the point where the smoke was escaping. "Vessel is presently on fire and adrift," a defence ministry public relations officer said on X. Officials did not disclose the nature of the cargo in the containers, nor what caused the explosions. A container vessel sank in another accident off Kerala last month, releasing 100 cargo containers into the Arabian Sea. The directorate general of shipping said on Friday there were no reports of oil pollution because of that incident. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

Burial service to be held June 9 for Gravette WWII soldier killed in D-Day invasion
Burial service to be held June 9 for Gravette WWII soldier killed in D-Day invasion

Yahoo

time11 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Burial service to be held June 9 for Gravette WWII soldier killed in D-Day invasion

GRAVETTE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — After more than 80 years, a Northwest Arkansan hero is returning home. Private Rodger Dean Andrews, a World War II soldier from Gravette, will be laid to rest with full military honors at 2:00 p.m. Monday, June 9, at Bethel Cemetery in Gravette, according to the Benton County Sheriff's Office (BSCO). His remains, recently identified after decades of uncertainty, will arrive in Northwest Arkansas the evening of Sunday, June 8 and be received by Epting Funeral Home in Bentonville. On Monday, the BCSO Motor Division will escort Private Andrews to his final resting place, joined by Military Honors and the Patriot Guard. The procession will depart Epting Funeral Home (709 N. Walton Blvd, Bentonville) at 1:15 p.m. and follow this route: South on N. Walton Blvd Right on SW 14th Street (Highway 102) Right on Highway 59 through Decatur Right on Bethel Road in Gravette Left into Bethel Cemetery 'Community members are encouraged to line the route and pay their respects to honor the life and service of Private Rodger Dean Andrews, a true American hero,' BSCO said in a Facebook post. HISTORY: Grant Hardin's 12-day escape joins the state's most infamous escapes The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced in a news release on October 2 that U.S. Army Private Rodger D. Andrews, 19, was accounted for on June 5. Andrews was assigned in June 1944 to Company C of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion in the European Theater. On June 6, 1944, American, Canadian and British forces came ashore on the beaches of Normandy in France during Operation Overlord. The release said that at some point during the battle, Andrews was killed, but due to the chaos, it is not known what happened to him. Private Rodger Dean Andrews' remains were recovered after D-Day but went unidentified for decades. In 2014, his family requested renewed efforts. A belt with his initials helped prompt a review, and in 2019, the remains were exhumed. Scientists confirmed his identity through dental and anthropological analysis. A rosette will now mark his name at the Normandy American Cemetery. Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said during her remarks at the 2025 Memorial Day Observance at Camp Robinson in North Little Rock that U.S. Army Private Rodger D. Andrews, 18, will be laid to rest at a family plot on June 9, more than 81 years after his death. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

‘Pawprints on my heart': How bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience
‘Pawprints on my heart': How bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience

CNN

timea day ago

  • CNN

‘Pawprints on my heart': How bonding with a pet becomes a religious experience

James Taylor is a prominent Canadian theologian who has written 15 books on faith and grief, taught religion at several colleges and been the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. But one of his greatest spiritual teachers was a companion who liked to chase ducks and steal Taylor's underwear — and whose most prestigious award was being honored by a local newspaper as its Pet of the Week. His friend was 'Brick,' a high-spirited, purebred Irish Setter that Taylor rescued with his wife, Joan. During Brick's first night in his new home, he managed to topple Taylor's border lamp, scatter his glasses and sweep his alarm clock off a nightstand. When Taylor awakened the next morning he discovered Brick slumbering, with one hind leg sticking up through a lampshade. Over time, though, Brick proved to be a rock. He stood by Taylor's side when he was ill and loved him no matter what. Taylor says the depth of feelings he gradually developed for Brick showed him that some of the most profound moments in life — falling hopelessly in love; feeling a newborn's baby's hand close around your finger; watching a daughter walk down a wedding aisle — could not be captured by sermons. 'My father was a minister, so I grew up in a world of words,' Taylor says. 'I thought wisdom came to me by the words that I read in the Bible or a book on theology. The thing that animals taught me is that God doesn't speak to us just in words but in our experiences. God reaches us through our experiences, and animals are a part of that experience.' Many books and studies in recent years have explored why so many people are leaving organized religion. But few scholars have explored another trend: The growing number of people who've found that bonding with their pets becomes a spiritual experience. We are in the middle of the Great Pet Awakening — a surge of people who say that owning a pet is a religious experience. In a post-pandemic era when many people still live in isolation, more pet owners are saying their furry friends are not mere companions. They are 'partners in a spiritual journey,' according to David Michie, an author and Buddhist commentator. This awakening is due in part to math. Pet ownership in the US has risen over the past 30 years. At least 66% of Americans say they own a pet, up from 56% in 1988. Virtually all people consider their pets members of the family. The other reason for this trend is more intangible. More people are publicly sharing how owning a pet led them to develop spiritual habits traditionally taught by religion. Pets, they say, teach them about forgiveness and the importance of fellowshipping with others. Pets also embody grace — they accept humans as they are. Pets also prompt many of their owners to confront a heavy theological question: Does Fido have a soul? It's common for pet owners to ask online forums what happens to their pets when they die. That curiosity has spawned a new literary genre: pet psychics who assure people that yes, 'some angels choose furs over feathers.' Books such as 'Yes, Pets Do Go to Heaven' and 'The Amazing Afterlife of Animals' assure people that their departed now frolic in celestial meadows. Some psychics offer pet owners even more consolation: a chance to hear personalized messages from their pets in the Great Beyond. Matt Fraser, a psychic medium and author of 'We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife,' says he offers a spiritual connection between people and pets. It turns out that pets have a lot to say. Fraser holds seances to help people connect with the spirits of their loved ones. He says it's not unusual for pets to break through his sessions with humans to communicate with their former owners. Fraser, who starred in a reality show called 'Meet the Frasers,' says he believes some pets in the afterlife find other ways to communicate with their former owners in the physical world. 'So next time you hear a faint bark, see a toy where it doesn't belong, or feel a warm, familiar presence by your side, take it as a sign—your spirit pet is saying hello,' Fraser wrote in one essay. Some people mourn more over the passing of their pets than their relatives, Fraser tells CNN. 'Nobody really understands how these animals really grow on you, how much you love them until it's too deep,' says Fraser, who owns three Bengal cats. 'When we lose them, people grieve and say, 'God, I never expected to grieve so hard.' ' It opens up a whole different side of your heart, just like children do.' If a pet psychic sounds like too much, consider this: Animals have been considered conduits to the spiritual world through much of human history. Ancient Egyptians treated cats as divine symbols and thought they provided companionship to their masters in the afterlife (many were buried with them in tombs). Many ancient religions believed animals functioned as 'spirit guides,' appearing to human beings in dreams and daily life to offer wisdom and guidance. Have you ever heard a person say they saw a red cardinal after someone close to them died? The cardinal is popularly viewed as a spirit guide. The connection between pets and spirituality is not limited to one religion. A Pew Research Center poll released last month revealed that a majority of adults in Muslim, Christian, Hindu and Jewish countries believe that animals can have spirits or spiritual energies. No less of a spiritual authority than the late Pope Francis said there's a place for pets in paradise. While comforting a boy whose dog died, Francis told him: 'One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all creatures.' Another revered spiritual leader, Mahatma Gandhi, also believed that animals are sacred. 'To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being,' said the nonviolent activist who helped lead India to independence from England in 1947. 'I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection from the cruelty of man.' There are times, though, that pets owners feel helpless. That's when many of them say having a pet deepens their spirituality. The faith of Taylor, the author and minister, was tested by a cruel succession of personal losses. His son, Stephen, died at 21 from cystic fibrosis. He watched Non-Hodgkin lymphoma destroy his mother's body. He saw his then 93-year-old father — a minister with three honorary divinity degrees — struggle with pain in his final days. When Taylor asked his father which hymns and Scriptures he wanted read at his memorial service, his father said, 'I don't care. I won't be there.' At one point, Taylor was no longer sure he believed in life after death. Yet Brick had a way of sensing his mood and comforting him, Taylor says. He recalls what happened once when he fell ill. 'I went and sprawled on my couch, feeling sorry for myself,' Taylor tells CNN. 'And for the first time, Brick jumped on the couch and curled up against me. He recognized that I was in pain and suffering. It wasn't just enough to lick my face.' Companions like Brick provide what God also promises, Taylor wrote in 'The Spirituality of Pets,' a book that explores the link between pets and faith. 'Pets probably come as close to giving and receiving unconditional love as we can come in this flawed world,' he wrote. Pets also can provide healing, some owners say. This claim is backed up by science. Owning a pet can lower a person's blood pressure and the release of cortisol, a stress-related hormone. Among people who suffer strokes, pet owners live longer than those without animal companions. Service dogs can sense oncoming seizures in their owners, while some say cats can recognize the presence of cancer. Pets can heal psychological scars as well. Some prisons allow inmates to adopt pets. The experience of caring for another living creature has been found to soften inmates' anger, allowing some to experience warmth and affection for the first time in their lives. A growing number of churches now recognize the spiritual dimension to pet ownership. Many offer blessing ceremonies for pets and others have turned church grounds into dog parks to attract new members. Some Christians have created ministries such as Canines for Christ, which provides dogs to patients at children's hospitals, nursing homes and hospice facilities. Unlike people, pets don't judge. Taylor tells a story in his book about a service dog who was escorted into a hospital room, looked past the burn-scarred face of the patient and 'with the wag of its tail,' conveyed to the man, 'I love you.'' Pets also can help their owners confront the ultimate mystery of life that religion addresses: how to make peace with one's mortality. Pets don't tend to live as long as their owners. For some children, losing a pet is their first exposure to death. For some adults, watching a pet die illuminates their spiritual beliefs. That's what happened to Scott Dill. He and his wife, Tara, are longtime dog lovers. One of their favorites was 'Socks,' a black-and-white Shih Tzu rescue. They clicked with Socks right from the beginning. He had a placid temperament and immediately allowed their two daughters, Hyland and Lydia, to walk him by leash. He wasn't aggressive with other dogs. He liked people. 'He was super chill,' says Dill, director of spiritual growth at Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. 'A squirrel could have walked over his head, and he wouldn't have paid attention.' After about a decade, Dill noticed a change in Socks. He lost weight, suffered panic attacks and would abruptly stop and stare into corners. Dill took him to the vet. The diagnosis was a brain tumor. Dill and his family reluctantly decided to euthanize Socks to prevent more suffering. The entire experience — Socks quietly sitting in Tara's lap as they rode to the vet; watching the vet administer a sedative to a calm Socks; touching Socks as he quietly took his last breath — became a religious epiphany for Dill. Christians preach that God loved humanity so much that he sacrificed his son to display that love. Dill knows the Scriptures that commemorate that sacrifice. But the emotional weight of giving up Socks made him feel those scriptures in a new way. Dill shared this experience in an essay entitled, 'We Put Our Dog Down and Saw God.' He wrote that his loss showed him how much God must have hurt when He gave up His Son. 'Through the pain of this loss, God has lovingly reminded me of the incalculable weight of his rescue,' Dill wrote. 'I got a clearer picture of that cost. The cost of love.' After Socks died, Dill says his family carried the dog's body home and buried him in their backyard. They said a short prayer over his grave, thanking God for Socks' life. They erected a gravestone that stands today as a reminder of their loss. 'Even though it was the right decision to put him down,' Dill tells CNN, 'there's just something surreal about being able to choose whether a creature should live or die.' Taylor had to face the same choice with Brick. When Brick was about eight, he started to decline. He struggled to get to his feet while getting out of bed. He stumbled going downstairs. When Taylor took him for walks, Brick's trot turned into a plod. 'I recognized all these symptoms because I have them myself,' Taylor wrote in his book about pets. Taylor took Brick to the vet. Surgery followed, but the operation revealed a litany of maladies that had damaged the dog's internal organs. His decline accelerated. Despite the pain Brick experienced as he hobbled around the house, he never forgot he was housebroken, never whimpered in self-pity or snapped in anger, Taylor says. Brick's condition eventually became irreversible. When he turned 11, old for a dog, his legs stopped working properly. Taylor and his wife decided to take Brick to a vet so he wouldn't suffer anymore. That same day, Taylor says, something remarkable happened. 'Here's this dog who can barely get onto his feet — but he raided our laundry basket,' Taylor tells CNN. 'He did what he loved to do, which was to pull my underwear from the basket and go hide it in the house. He wanted to play, to challenge us and wanted us to laugh in those hours and not go around weeping.' Does Taylor believe he will see Brick again in the afterlife? Taylor is no pet psychic, but he says he's starting to believe animals have souls. He recalls standing next to a friend's poodle who was being euthanized and 'feeling as something was leaving' the moment the dog died. Where that pet may have gone is a place that Taylor calls the 'Rainbow Bridge.' It's a widely circulated poem for pet owners from an anonymous author that depicts animals romping in a lush celestial meadow where they will eventually reunite with their owners. In one variation of the poem, a writer declares her dog's pawprints will 'be on my heart forever.' 'It's very moving because it acknowledges that heaven — whatever heaven is — is not just limited to people,' Taylor says. 'Anyone we love, including a turtle that has lived 90 years, has value that cannot be limited by its physical presence.' In death, Brick left Taylor one final lesson. 'I'm learning from him (Brick) that everything, in the end, boils down to relationships,' Taylor says. 'Brick had no possessions. He was never elected leader of the pack. But he had wonderful relationships. He died knowing he was deeply loved. 'I couldn't ask any more for myself.' John Blake is a CNN senior writer and author of the award-winning memoir, 'More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store