After hearing the sad news, I phoned Kinky to tell him the bad news, and then I phoned Ben. While Tony and John were outside burying Pryor, I went to my computer and looked up the story that I had written long ago, about Pryor for the Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch Summer 2004 Report. I also rewrote his story for my book, and, Pryor’s picture is on the front cover of my book, on the lower right hand side.
When I began reading the newsletter, I was shocked to find that Pryor had either died on his four year anniversary of being here, or one day after. He had come to the rescue ranch on April 6, 2004.
Rest In Peace—Pryor. We loved you. And, you were a good dog and will never be forgotten.
Made in loving memory of Pryor, here is the Summer 2004 Newsletter story, about how he made it to our rescue ranch.
Pryor-ity Male!
For over a month our ranch has been back and forth on the phone to Jennifer Lee (Richard Pryor’s wife) and her friends, Karen and Shannon, concerning a dog named Pierce, that had been abandoned in a front yard in Los Angeles with no food or water. Pierce is approximately eight years old and this was the second time for him to be abandoned. Jennifer and her friends rescued him and boarded him at a kennel for over three weeks while desperately trying to find Pierce a home.
No one would take him because he had issues such as being unpredictable and biting. The places they called suggested that he be euthanized because of his biting. Jennifer, Shannon and Karen refused to heed the advice and kept on trying until they made a call to Kinky.
Kinky put them in touch with Tony and I and the rest is history. It took us about a week to line out the plan. First off, the ranch changed his name to Pryor in honor of Richard Pryor, whom we all love. Next, we worked out the transportation.
Monday, April 5th Pryor departed LAX headed for his new home in Texas! This is the e-mail sent from Nancy to Jennifer Lee, Richard Pryor, Karen and Shannon:
Tuesday, April 6th.....Good morning Jennifer, Richard, Karen and Shannon. Forgive me for not writing to each of you individually I only got about three hours of sleep last night and it was not Pryor's fault. First off, let me tell you how much Tony, Kinky and I love Pryor! Here is the way it went down last night and please remember that we were under a full moon, too (Jennifer can explain this to y'all later).
6:30 p.m....Tony & Maribeth Couch leave to go to the airport in San Antonio to pick up Pryor.
7:00 p.m....Jennifer calls wanting an update.
8:00 p.m....Kinky calls me and wants to be updated every 30 minutes on operation “Pryority Male!”
9:00-10:30 p.m....I watch Green Acres reruns––I love that show!
11:00 p.m....Jennifer calls for an update on Pryor.
11:05 p.m....I called Tony. He and Maribeth have just picked up Pryor and he never growled!
11:10 p.m....I called Shannon and told her that "The Eagle Has Landed!"
11:15 p.m....I called Jennifer and repeated myself about the eagle.
11:20 p.m....I began cooking Pryor’s welcome home dinner. I cooked some hamburger, two eggs, green beans, cheese and garlic and mixed it up all together. Tasted great!
11:21 p.m...Kinky calls me while I am cooking––his back is killing him, but he wants to be here when Pryor arrives––so we make a plan.
Please note: 10 days ago, Tony threw his back out....8 days ago, I threw my back out....3 days ago, Kinky threw his back out and not that this is real important, but one of our veterinarians, Wylie Skelton, threw his back out 6 days ago and so did our friend, Jim Cravotta! I truly think it is contagious, but I don't think you can get it over the internet.
11:55 p.m....Tony calls from Bandera (22 miles from us) and as we are talking on the phone the tv goes into an emergency weather forecast! Out of nowhere, some heavy thunderstorms showed up and they were headed straight for us! Dime-size hail had hit Rocksprings which is only about a 45 minute/45 miles away. Wind shears up to 70 mph had also been clocked in Junction, Texas!
11:56 p.m....My heart sinks over the forecast that I had just heard. I called Kinky––we now become nervous wrecks concerning the weather reports.
12:10 a.m....I meet Kinky outside in front of Pryor's pen. The winds had picked up and it was thundering and lighting and starting to rain. Kinky and I jumped into the Explorer and waited in silence for Tony and Pryor’s arrival. Suddenly, he starts laughing and says,"Thank God, Pryor isn't a giant dog! I can just see the three of us with our backs out––trying to carry his cage.” I laughed so hard that my back began to hurt again.
12:15 a.m...Tony & Pryor arrive! It was really starting to rain cats and dogs as Tony, Kinky and I carried Pryor's cage from the back of the truck to his new pen. We looked like a bad immitation of Harvey Korman, Tim Conway and Carol Burnett doing a skit on old people. Tony lowered the tail gate of the truck and the three of us took our positions around Pryor's cage. On the count of three, we shuffled our feet in tiny baby steps to his pen. Kinky and I then shuffled quickly out of the pen and Tony did the ribbon cutting. He reached down and unlatched Pryor's door. Before Pryor came out of his cage, Tony had swiftly scooted outside of the pen. As the rain fell and the lightning cracked, Pryor stretched, pooped, drank some water and then ate the homemade dinner that had been cooked for him.
12:30 a.m. Satisfied that Pryor was going to be okay, Kinky went home and we went back to our trailer. Ten minutes later, all hell broke loose––thunder, lightning, high-winds, etc. Tony and I grabbed our raincoats, put on our rubber boots and went outside to the pens. Dustin Hoffman and Martha Stewart, two of our smaller dogs, had escaped from their pens. After we had rounded them up and had them back in their pens, Randy Travis leaped out of his pen! After returning Randy to his digs we went back to the trailer. We were so wound up with the storm and all of the excitement that neither one of us could sleep.
And now here is the rest of the story....
Tuesday, April 7th, 9:00 a.m. We wake up to find that Medina had flooded over the night! We were all fine, but the rivers and creeks were over their banks. Fortunately, we are high up and all we got from the flood––was mud! All is well now. The rivers are going down and Pryor, who I have fallen madly in love with, has already eaten two eggs with bacon for breakfast (laced with garlic). We served him hot dog wieners every hour on the hour this morning and he seems to like the attention that he is receiving. He seems to be doing great and we are taking it very slowly with him. Here are some picts for y'all that I took this morning. Take care out there and be glad that I did this in Reader's Digest form. Love to all, Nancy
August ‘04 Update: Our ranch wishes to thank Jennifer and Richard Pryor for supplying our dogs each and every month with Frontline Plus ( the best flea, tick and mosquito repellent) for our dogs, but I am still going to make our dogs quesidillas because they love them! Please check out richardpryor.com And, Richard and Jennifer—We Love Y’all!
2 comments:
Pryor is at the Rainbow Bridge with many other rescued animals waiting for that special person to come so he can make them his own. What he did not find in this life he will surly find in the next. Thank you and everyone involved in saving this beautiful fur covered creature and giving him a place to call his own these past four years.
Hi Nancy,
I'm sorry to hear of Pryor's passing. I remember your story very well. He was a handsome guy and was well loved during his years at the Ranch, lucky guy. Godspeed Pryor!
Fay xo
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