Anita Busek (’49 Speech Comm.) loved Chevy Chase. Not the actor, but the golden Labrador she rescued in 2008. “Chevy Chase” was just one of a half dozen dogs that Anita would take in during her life. Whether they lost their home or their owners could no longer care for them, Anita would find room for a dog in her home.
“She was always the kind of person who felt strongly about anyone or anything that couldn’t take care of themselves,” said John Brenneis, a Seattle-based architect and Anita’s nephew. “She always cared for the underdog.”
For Anita, who had no children of her own, her dogs were her family. She had a rescue animal dog as a companion for most of her life.
“She loved to take the dogs to the dog park in South Seattle,” said Brenneis. “She was kind of famous there and Chevy loved going there.”
After Anita passed away in August 2010, part of her estate came to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine to support our Humane Society Partnership Fund out of the love of her shelter dogs and her loyalty to WSU.
In 2012, the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine and the Seattle Humane Society entered into a collaboration to build a state-of-the art adoption center, animal shelter, and primary care teaching hospital. Because of this partnership, up to 130 WSU veterinary students will receive high-quality, high-volume general veterinary medical and surgical training each year; something that is not currently possible at the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Pullman. This unique opportunity will provide an extraordinary enhancement to the education of our students in community-based, wellness-centered primary care.