How an old abandoned cat became a widowed Vietnam veteran’s lifeline

After suffering a stroke and then losing the love of his life, Jim became unmoored. But the devotion of his adult children led this Navy war veteran to adopt a four-legged lifeline he named Mookie.

This story was made possible through our partnership with Ventura County Animal Services, which waives adoption fees for our veterans and Gold Star spouses. It is told by Jim’s daughter, Beth, who with her brother Buddy look after their father and encouraged him to adopt a pet companion.

This is their family’s story.

Love in wartime

Dad served in the Seabee branch of the Navy. He was drafted during the Vietnam war and saw two tours, starting at 19 years old. How an old abandoned cat became a widowed Vietnam veteran's lifeline

Prior to the draft, Dad had planned on becoming a dairy farmer— like his father—in Oregon.

He said the best thing that came out of his service was that he never would have met Mom if he had stayed in Oregon.

He was stationed at Port Hueneme, California, in between tours when he went to dinner at a friend’s house off base and fell in love with his friend’s wife’s sister. They wrote letters back and forth when Dad deployed back to Vietnam.

Mom and dad married in 1967 after Dad completed his second tour. He tells the story that he came home on Monday and they got married on Saturday.

Building a family

Mom and Dad stayed in Ventura County, California. Dad ended up becoming a contractor, and Mom and Dad owned a small construction company.

On December 9, 2023, Mom and Dad celebrated their 56th anniversary.

Sadly, Mom passed away eight days later. During their marriage, they had two kids—a son, James “Buddy,” and [me], a daughter, Beth.

Losing almost everything

Since Dad had his stroke in 2020 he has been pretty much homebound. He can get out when my brother and I take him, but he is home about 95 percent of the time.

Dad had a black Lab that he was very attached to that passed away in September of 2023. And then my mom passed in December of 2023.

He went from being independent in 2020 to housebound, to losing his best friend and his wife.

Raised them right

My dad lives in a senior mobile home park in a small town about an hour-and-a-half north of Los Angeles. About a mile-and-a-half from me and about three miles from my brother. How an old abandoned cat became a widowed Vietnam veteran's lifeline

We are all still in the same small town Mom and Dad raised us in, and my brother works for our city even though I work out of town.

He [Dad] wants to stay as independent as long as possible. So right now we are trading off going over there several times a day for check in or med[ication] supervision.

I go over between six-thirty to seven every morning on my way to work. My brother goes over there during his lunch. I go over on my way home at about four-thirty and my brother goes at about six-thirty.

Heartache

We had many, many, many animals throughout Mom and Dad’s life together.

Dad was always the type of person that had a dog by his side. His last dog, Loki, passed away about three months before Mom died.

Dad was too heartbroken to think about welcoming another pet into his heart.

My brother and I tried many times to have Dad consider adopting another companion. He just wasn’t ready.

We have been encouraging him to get another pet so he has something living in the house with him that depends on him. He has been resistant and we had pretty much given up.

Then, at the end of May, he decided he wanted a cat. We had never considered Dad a cat person, but we were supportive.

We asked him to wait about a week to be sure he still wanted a cat before taking him to the shelter. He was sure that there would be a shelter cat that needed him. He was right.

“…the cat for him”

Mookie—an eight year-old tortoise shell Calico—had been abandoned. And in her two weeks at the shelter [she] had zero people interested in adopting her.

She wouldn’t come out of hiding and was older, so people did not give her a second look. How an old abandoned cat became a widowed Vietnam veteran's lifeline

Dad knew she was the cat for him.

My dad said we needed to give her a chance since he didn’t feel anyone else would, and that she needed a quiet house that didn’t have a lot of pressure for her.

So Dad and Mookie adopted each other.

Put me in, coach

Mookie is doing wonderful. She is an older cat—eight years—and when we found her at the shelter, she had been there a couple weeks and was terrified. She wasn’t eating and hid the whole time.

When we got her to Dad’s house, she hardly came out for the first week.

But now, Mookie—named after Mookie Betts, Dad’s favorite Dodger player—watches every Dodger game right by Dad’s side.

She ‘talks’ to Dad, and likes to sit by him on the couch and look out the window. She has even started to sleep on Dad’s bed with him.

Today my dad and I received a lovely call from Ted, asking how Mookie is adapting to her new environment with Dad.

[Ted is our director of veteran outreach and a Vietnam Marine Corps combat veteran. His outreach is part of our year of follow up with every single adoption.]

“…a blessing”

We have seen such an improvement in Dad’s mental health. Honestly, having Mookie has been the biggest positive thing in Dad’s life in a long time.

Mookie is his company now during the day and stays on that perch on the couch next to dad pretty much the whole day until they go to bed. How an old abandoned cat became a widowed Vietnam veteran's lifeline