A Tribute to Lucy
by Lynne Engelbert
Lucy was a 15.5 year old Border Collie who was a FEMA and CA Office of Emergency Services (CA OES) certified Type 1 disaster search dog and a CA OES certified Human Remains Detection (HRD) dog. She was a member of NASA Ames' Disaster Assistance & Rescue Team since 1996. Lucy died on August 4. Her last minutes were spent where she loved best, the rubble pile at N267
When I got Lucy she was a hardened professional with years of wilderness and disaster search experience. She had already survived two near-death experiences, one of which was a rattlesnake bite. She worked the OKC bombing with our Urban Search & Rescue team, CA Task Force 3. In the morning she would run over to my cot, give me kisses and then race back for her breakfast. We were buddies from the beginning. When I bought her from her former handler, Caroline, it took me six weeks to earn her respect. It wasn't easy. Those of us who witnessed her acceptance of me as her new handler could tell you the moment it happened.
At age 8 she injured her back leg and couldn't work on rubble for six months. In that six months she became a CA certified Human Remains Detection dog. Within a few months she had found a murder victim still buried 6-8 ft. deep in a landfill. Finding that lady's body put the bad guy away forever. That winter she found another murder victim and the next spring the victim of a drowning accident.
We trained and honed our skills as a team for years until we were called upon to work the World Trade Center in Sept. 2001 with CA TF4. She was incredible, finding her first human remains within five minutes of setting foot on the WTC site. In addition to her work locating the victims of this travesty, she would go up to firefighters, police officers and construction workers, offer little kisses of condolence and absorb their tears into her coat.
Following the crash of the Shuttle Columbia Lucy was requested by NASA to fly to TX to help locate the remains of our astronauts. She worked there for nine days as part of a massive team that eventually brought our astronauts home to their families.
Lucy worked with local police departments and sheriff's offices on crime scenes, went to grade schools and colleges to demonstrate what a disaster search dog can do and attended safety fairs. No matter what I asked her to do, she was more than willing to try, and she usually accomplished the task after only a few repetitions. It did take a while to convince her that "dead dogs" don't bark and roll their eyes.
I'm going to miss working with Lucy. She was truly my partner in addition to being my best friend, accepting anything I did and loving me no matter what.