Sophie peacefully left our earthside family for Heaven where she will be greeted by her Grandpa Larry, Aunt Bridget (dog) and brother Walter (dog). Sophie made us a family. 16 years ago, after 3 months of dating, Brian and Mary decided it would be a good idea to get a dog at 9pm on a Saturday night.

Sophie spent her early days bopping around the Student Ghetto at Western Michigan University. She enjoyed frat parties, house parties, tailgates and lived for a warm St Paddy’s day celebration or swimming in Woods Lake. After 3 years at WMU Sophie left for bigger and better things in the Windy City.

Sophie quickly acclimated to being a city dog. She spent her summers on the rooftop or swimming in Lake Michigan. Her winters snuggled up by the fire- like any true Chicagoan. She was always up for a late night burrito, a bike ride on Lakeshore Drive or a romp at the Dog Park. It is in Chicago where she welcomed her first little brother, Walter the dog. Sophie and Walter were excellent travel buddies. Together they went on many trips to see Dave Matthews at Alpine Valley, Bar Harbor Maine to see the ocean and knew every stop from Detroit to Chicago.

Her dreams came true when her parents FINALLY got married and bought her a (town)house with a (shared)yard. Things were great- and then the baby came, and another, and another. The human babies turned out to be pretty great- they were terrible at getting food in their mouth holes, carried around bowls of snacks and seems like one of them were always sleeping. Despite all Mary & Brian’s fears that she would be a jealous big sister, she turned out to be a fantastic family dog, and loved the kids, and they loved her. Life was good.

Sophie spent her final years in the suburbs in a house with a real back yard in Michigan. At the ripe age of 16, she was still known to get out of the yard, and wander the neighborhood looking for new friends. Sophie lost her eyesight, hearing, and most of her teeth- but never lost her characteristic energy, even when her body started to fail her. Sophie helped build our family and she will always hold a special place in our hearts. We were so blessed to have 16 amazing years of experiences and memories with Sophie and will hold onto them dearly until we meet again.