A Tribute to Pat Duke

A "Golden Soul"

Neuse River Golden Retriever Rescue has lost a good friend and long-time volunteer, Pat Duke. Pat passed away peacefully on March 8th. She was a friend, a mentor, an encourager, a leader, a cheerleader, an organizer, a talented writer and story teller, and an advocate for fostering and saving lives. She is the reason why many of us are so dedicated to this rescue.

Pat was passionate about our rescue and served in many volunteer roles including Foster Coordinator, organizer of Meet and Greets, board member, and just about anything else that needed to be done. Pat’s leadership and organizational skills made a huge impact in the foster program and took NRGRR to a new level. In 2007, Pat was nominated for and won the national Starfish Award for her contribution to the rescue of Golden Retrievers. The Starfish Award is a prestigious annual award that was given from the National Rescue Committee of the Golden Retriever Club of America.

Both Pat and her husband "Duke" contributed to the success of Neuse River Golden Retriever Rescue. Duke could often be seen cooking hotdogs and hamburgers to feed our hungry guests at many of our swims. They fostered many dogs and adopted six: Gage, Finn, Logan, Riley, Ella, and Delta Dawn.

We miss you and hope to see you both someday on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge for a massive Golden swim and celebration! XOX

Thank you to everyone who attended Pat Duke's memorial with their NRGRR dog. It meant a lot to her family. If you would like to send your sympathies, you may do so by visiting her obituary here. Pat's family has asked that donations in her remembrance be made to the NRGRR. Visit our memorials web page for more information about how to make a donation in Pat's memory.

To honor Pat's devotion to NRGRR, we are creating virtual memorial tiles listing the foster family and foster dogs in which she was the coordinator. If Pat was your foster coordinator and you would like to have your name and foster dogs included on a tile, please click here to fill out a Google Form. A donation is not required to have a tile.

If you would like to share photos that you have of Pat with your foster dog or at NRGRR events, you may submit them on the Google Form or by email to nrgrrcommsteam@gmail.com. Please include 'Pat Duke' in the subject line. We will add them to the photo album below.