HAPPY, HEALTHY, and WISE
Editors Note: July 2006
In updating this, it came as a shock to realize that so many of these judges are no longer with us. 
It has been less than ten years.  We are reminded how quickly and easily greatness slips away.

“ALL ROUNDERS.” How few they are, only about two dozen.  Yet at a small show in North Carolina in 1996, there was Mr. Joe Gregory chatting with the newest inductee, Mr. Charles Herendeen from Ohio.  Both men charged by retirement age and never looked back.  I was intrigued with how vital and strong they were as they shared a funny story at ringside.  It was the end of a long day but here were these two guys standing up when they could have been sitting, laughing when they could have been frowning, and after all those years, just as interested in the dogs, the people, and the sport. Mr. Herendeen passed away November 2004

Looking around the ringside, it was easy to recall some other great and gifted judges who were physically able to continue what they loved so much.  I remembered Roy Ayers as he pointed to the Scottie for BIS at a show in Georgia.  I applauded that which confirmed by own opinion of George Ward’s dog and made some utterly stupid comment about Roy’s uncanny eye for quality.  The lady sitting behind tapped me on the shoulder and said in great exasperation “Of course she’s great, that is “Shannon!” Even from ringside, I could see the sparkle in Roy's eyes as he looked down at her and it was obvious he would have liked to scoop her up in his arms. Roy Ayers and George Ward are deceased. 

I remembered Lina Basquette sitting on a bale of hay in Lumberton, NC.  Puffing her cigarette, she indignantly looked around the tin roofed in a tobacco barn and lifting one imperious eyebrow said “What am I doing here?”  She pointed to Jack Funk as he hurried by with King Boots, then sweeping her bejeweled arm left to right she laughed “Look at all these great dogs!  Who cares that the judges can’t see them through all this dust, I can see them!”   A decade later in Cleveland she was just as excited about her competition.  “BJ, look at that Group!”  She pointed out two Top Ten dogs and thinking out loud, she told me why they were “sprinked with stardust.”  As the judge made his choices, Lina haughtily told me where he went wrong.  Then rousing Special K from her plush mattress, she swept into the Working group.  Enthralled, I watched she and her royal companion hold court and conquer, neither missing a cue.  It was easy for the Great Dane but I wondered then how many more miles around the big rings would Lina’s powerful legs endure?  Another decade passed and Lina moved on to judging.  Her indomitable will finally failed her and she completed her last assignment in a wheelchair.  I knew how frustrated she was that those “better than Gable’s” legs had failed her and when she could no longer stand center ring, we lost her. Lina and Jack are both deceased. 

Taking a weekend off to judge a fun match (typical!!) Bob Finnie told me that he didn’t want to be the best All Breed judge, he just wanted to live long enough to be the best Working dog judge.  To many who knew him, he was close to his goal when fate took him from the sport.  Bob Finnie is deceased.