Obituaries
Chris Beatty feeding fawns in 2002.
Chris Beatty
I will not lie to you all and tell you that my mom, Chris Beatty, died peacefully. Besides the fact that she hated lying, she always was a doer, and doers aren’t peaceful people by nature. So instead I will be honest and tell you that she died at 4 something in the morning as a ploy to get me to wake up before the sun even rose one last time. Her mornings started at 4:30 AM (with two cups of coffee that could kill a lesser person) and everyone else’s must too, nothing could start past 8 AM because by that point “the whole morning is completely wasted”.
She moved here in 1995 and fought tooth and nail to provide Wakulla County with a wildlife rehabilitation center that it didn’t know it wanted, but she knew it sorely needed.
For the last 27 years she has had deer in our laundry room, furniture covered in possum formula, a house that people pull up to at all hours with injured animals, and stray kids wandering in and out. She was the safe haven for injured people and animals alike and if anyone showed up with an attitude or problem to work out, she made sure they left here winded with blisters from raking or scrubbing but also a lighter heart.
She was quick to tell you when you were not doing (or dating) your best but just as fast to tell you how proud she was of how much you accomplished. Every single person that walked onto the property left smarter and more well loved than they had arrived. They also left with a suspiciously long to-do list, even when they thought they were just coming for a social visit.
She never balked at a task or found it daunting, and in fact was frequently in the middle of at least 18 different tasks at any given time. Which is why she decided to have her lung cancer metastasize in her brain in the middle of planning two different fundraisers, my birthday, several vet appointments, a birthday bash for my grandmother, orders for several different things, replacing our roof, and who knows what else. Literally, who knows what else?
I have not had a chance to catch up with her phone or emails so if she was in the middle of anything else not listed, please don’t tell me. I, although gifted in other ways, find tasks very daunting and would prefer if they were scary somewhere else far away from me.
I’ve been struggling with the idea that all of the things she does and thinks and starts are just going to end. The whirring machine that is her mind and motivation finally silenced. The only thing that brings me any solace is that maybe it won’t all end, it is just going to take many people to keep it going.
She contained so many multitudes, so much energy, so many ideas and projects that when released, they are going to take a crowd to keep it all running. We were always a team and I’m absolutely terrified of how to continue on without her. But if this last year has taught me anything it is that we have so many people that love her too. All of her love, support, and words that she has poured into our community have been coming back to us.
Like every other group project we’ve ever done, I knew this obituary could not be the standard one. She would not rest until my english projects were paper mache creations that were bigger than I was. Everything she did had to be larger than life. Her house had to be something pulled from a busy street in Jamaica with limestone sides she spent two years placing herself and filled with rescue dogs that were just as neurotic as we are.
Her center had to stretch to hold every animal in a multi-county radius and do so on a shoestring budget. All her kids had to scatter from Tampa to Rhode Island and lead neat and fulfilling lives everywhere in-between. Her Christmas baskets had to have the sugar content and caloric index of the average supermarket candy aisle. She was everything, all the time, to everyone and I know my heart is definitely not the only one broken by her passing.
Although she loved flowers and food, we never had a green thumb and most of the food she liked best was 90% sugar, carbonation, or caffeine.
So, in lieu of flowers or food gifts, please consider donating to a charity close to your heart, volunteering a few hours somewhere special, or taking food to a friend or local food bank.
Although she was best known for running FWMA, she was constantly lending a hand everywhere she could. The best way I know how to honor that is to spread it.
Love everyone in your life a little fiercer and always be willing to help wherever you can.