"Snow falling and night falling fast, oh, fast
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered with snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing fast."
In a field I looked into going past,
And the ground almost covered with snow,
But a few weeds and stubble showing fast."
Desert Places by Robert Frost
Nostalgia and sadness, regrets and gladness. It has been one of those days, fairly uncommon for me, that I have to really work to sort things out. I am thinking mostly about the passing yesterday of Hannelore Heller.
During my 40 years 'in the breed' no one has had more influence on standard longhaired dachshunds than Hannelore. That is how active, committed, knowledgeable, and instrumental she was. It is truly impossible to express the impact that Hannelore made. But there are exceedingly few in the forest of longhairs today that are not rooted somewhere in time to her life-long labor of love.
Hannelore was strong and smart, and she smiled and laughed a lot. I remember that she was amused when my H litter was born in 1987, (sired by DC Han-Jo's Cassius L), and I told that I had named two of the four puppies Hanna and Hella.
I met Joe & Hannelore Heller in the '70s when I was a teenager. I believe that Hannelore was specialing Java at the time. Joe had a dog supplies business at the shows. He occasionally asked me to help him and he paid me well. My mother, Hannelore, and a few times Maria Hayes, all of them German born and raised, would be at some show with their beloved 'Germanic' longhairs and converse in an eclectic mix of German, English, and dog show vocabulary.
It is nice to think that they are visiting again.
I can imagine the reception that Joe is giving his beautiful and devoted bride.
Speaking of devotion, Sue Hauser promised Joe before he died that she would see to it that Hannelore was taken care of. And she did, for so many years, in so many ways, and so very well. Sue, I admire what you have done beyond my ability to describe it. I regret that I did not visit again in the year that it has been since I last saw the two of you.
Rest in Peace, in God's Love, and in your tremendous contributions to all of us, dear Hannelore. You have been called an icon. Yes. You were. Are.