16 October 2023
Rosebud: Born Aug.10, 2008. Died July 6, 2023.
My daughter, Ellen’s beloved golden retriever died this past summer, just short of 15 years old.
Rosebud was more than “just a dog” to Ellen. From the day Anna McRoberts, co-producer of the Disney movie, “Santa Buddies,” gifted 16-week-old Rosebud to Ellen, then 5, they were best friends.
What had started as a 2008 Make-A-Wish North Dakota trip for Ellen, who had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, turned into a decade and a half partnership that touched the lives of hundreds of people across North America.
Rosebud, the movie star turned North Dakota farm dog, and Ellen co-volunteered at many Make-A-Wish North Dakota fundraisers, Relay for Life and Children’s Miracle Network events and were the subject of newspaper and magazine stories.
Ellen, the daughter of columnist Ann Bailey, and her dog, Rosebud. (Courtesy photo via Forum News Service)
The two — I liked to call them “The Dynamic Duo” — appeared together for television interviews, were in videos for other children affected by cancer and were interviewed by reporters.
Most of all, though, Rosebud was Ellen’s confidante and comforter throughout not only cancer, but other childhood illnesses and an eating disorder in her teen years. She was there when Ellen was emotionally distraught from elementary school girl drama, a slower finish in a cross country race in high school and the stresses that were part of her adjustment from high school to college.
Though Rosebud clearly loved Ellen the most of our family members, she shared herself with our whole family. In the evening, she took turns sitting by Ellen’s brothers, Brendan and Thomas, and her parents, Brian and me, before settling in with Ellen for the evening, curled up beside her.
Rosebud and Ellen in 2015. (Courtesy photo via Forum News Service)
Often at the end of the evening, Ellen’s head was on Rosebud as the two slept peacefully before heading upstairs to bed. In her younger years, Rosebud hopped up and slept at the foot of the bed. When she could no longer jump up on the bed, she laid on a rug beside it. She was the last family member Ellen saw at night and the first one to whom she said good morning.
As the years passed and Rosebud’s muzzle started to turn white, my prayer was that she would live until Ellen graduated from high school in 2021. Rosebud surpassed that milestone by 779 days, and our family is grateful for every one of them.
Still, the loss of Rosebud is difficult for our family, especially, Ellen. Rosebud’s death has been the most significant loss of her young adult life, and she felt like a piece of her heart was torn from her when Rosebud died.
Ellen and Rosebud play in the snow of their family farm in 2017. (Courtesy photo via Forum News Service)
A few weeks after Rosebud’s death, I asked Ellen if she would consider working with Brian and I on a project as a way to remember Rosebud. I told Ellen our idea was to convert our farm’s bunkhouse , built in the 1880s, into a retreat for guests who want to come to our farm and experience rural living. The retreat would honor Rosebud’s legacy by being decorated in a theme that represented her, and each month we would give a percentage of the income from our guests’ visits to Make-A-Wish North Dakota. It also would honor our family’s agricultural history by giving guests the opportunity to experience life on a farm surrounded by fields that were stewarded by four generations of family members.
Besides giving a part of our monthly income to Make-A-Wish-North Dakota, I told Ellen that Brian and I would like to host one family of a child with cancer at the retreat each month at no charge. The plan would be to give the child and his or her family a farm experience that included a hayride, farmstead scavenger hunt and hikes down our country roads.
Ellen was enthusiastic about the idea and immediately started making plans, channeling her energy into making budgets, choosing decorations for the retreat house and brainstorming activities for campers and their families.
We hope to start converting the bunkhouse into Rosebud’s Rainbow Retreat during the next few years, perhaps as soon as spring 2024. The retreat house will be a way we can give back for the generous gift we received from Make-A-Wish North Dakota and McRoberts.
It has taken Ellen these past three months to feel like she was in a place, emotionally, where she could bury Rosebud’s ashes. Ellen did that, along with her dad, Brian, and me on a lovely fall day beside the trees she and Rosebud roamed together when she was a child and under a brilliant October blue sky.
Ellen put Rosebud’s favorite pink elephant squeaky toy, a pink bandanna she received on her first birthday and a picture of Ellen and Rosebud in a sunflower field into her grave. Then with tears welling up in our eyes, Ellen laid a pink flower on Rosebud’s grave.
Our wish is that Rosebud’s Rainbow Retreat will carry on its namesake’s legacy, rising from the ashes of her death to bring love and light to children and their families through experiences on this multi-generational North Dakota farm, where Rosebud and Ellen spent so many happy times together.
Ann Bailey, a veteran journalist, lives on a farmstead near Larimore, N.D., that has been in her family since 1911.
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