The Life of Miss CAROLYN PARKER VERHOEFF

Miss Carolyn Verhoeff, for much of her life a crusader for humane treatment of animals, died at 2:45 a.m. yesterday at National Health Enterprises Northfield.  She was 99.

In 1959, she was honored by the National Society for Medical Research for her “constructive concern for the welfare of animals serving medical science.”  In 1957 the University of Louisville School of Medicine gave her a plaque “in recognition of a lifetime of devotion to the welfare of laboratory animals.”  On that occasion, Miss Verhoeff said: “Dogs are like people. They love to be loved.  Putting my name on here (the plaque) makes me think that you all love me. And when you get old like I am you will appreciate being loved.”

When Miss Verhoeff first went to the university in 1922, pleading for humane treatment for dogs used in research, she recalled, “the atmosphere was very chilly.”  “The doctors were interested in the relief of human suffering.  I was interested in relief of dog suffering.  There were many battles… Finally, we learned to work together in a common goal, the relief of all suffering.”

U of L was one of the first medical schools to open its laboratories to inspection by a humane-society representative.  That was Miss Verhoeff, who tirelessly made regular inspections trips for many years.  In 1963, the Carolyn Verhoeff Animal Care Center was dedicated in the new U of L Medical-Dental Research Building.

During an interview several years ago, Miss Verhoeff recalled her first visit to the old city dog pound on Hancock Street.  “I was never so horrified in my life,” she said, wrinkling her brow as her blue eyes flashed.  She found a drunken pound keeper and a drunken dogcatcher, two wire pens and an iron staircase up which dogs were dragged by ropes around their necks. She made the rounds of the newspapers and city officials until the conditions were corrected.  That was when she resurrected the old Animal Rescue League, which had installed water troughs for horses and mules around the city.

In June 1964 she spoke out against a proposed merger of the City-County Dog Pound with the Kentucky Humane Society-Animal Rescue League.  She wanted to write a letter to the editor but her sight was too bad so she asked to talk to a reporter.  When her sight failed, friends went to her home to read her letters from her niece and only survivor, Mrs. John Wyper, of Stonington, Conn.

Miss Verhoeff lived until 1971 in a three-story brick-and-stone home at 731 S. Second St.  It has since been demolished for commercial development.  She had been vegetarian from age 7.  She worked as a kindergarten teacher for the Louisville Board of Education until the board, at her urging, agreed to operate its own kindergartens shortly after the turn of the century.  She also wrote three books: “All about Johnnie Jones,” “Four Little Fosters” and “Love Me, Love My Dog.” 

At her request, expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to the Humane Society or to the University of Louisville School of Medicine. A memorial service will be announced later.  The body will be donated to the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

-Courier-Journal, June 28, 1975