Bonnie 10/29/17. Photo by Charles Oropallo.
Bonnie (deSousa) Oropallo, 12, a three and one half year canine resident of Peterborough NH, died on Tuesday September 3rd, 2019. She passed in the comfort of Charles and Susan Oropallo’s arms at the Animal Hospital Monadnock in Peterborough.
Bonnie was a twelve and one half year old malti-poo (miniature poodle) born on April 21st, 2007 in the Zephyrhills, Florida area.
Arlene deSousa fell in love with Bonnie as a puppy. Arlene brought Bonnie home where she and her husband, Mario deSousa, raised Bonnie in their home in Land O’ Lakes, Florida.
Mario passed in 2012. Arlene ultimately moved to an assisted living community in Tampa, Florida area, taking Bonnie along with her.
The assisted living facility had many, many senior residents. Bonnie became used to being around a large number of different people and varying personalities in that environment. Nearly all the residents and staff at the facility knew Bonnie by name and loved having Bonnie around. Bonnie appeared to love everyone she came in contact with.
Arlene deSousa’s last Christmas with Bonnie 12/25/15. Photo by Charles Oropallo.
Arlene deSousa became ill in April 2016 and was temporarily moved from her assisted living facility to a nursing home in Tampa, Florida to convalesce. Bonnie at that time was being cared for by a friend of Arlene’s in the area. Bonnie was supposed to have had a short stay with Arlene’s friend while Arlene convalesced in order to return to the assisted living a facility.
While he was visiting her, Arlene asked her son, Charles Oropallo, if he would mind just temporarily bringing Bonnie, who just turned 9 years old, to visit with him and his wife, Susan Oropallo, until she could get back to her assisted living residence. Charles and Susan Oropallo agreed they’d care for Bonnie long enough for Charles’s mom to return home. Bonnie traveled up the east coast with Charles by car to Peterborough, New Hampshire, where she would stay with Susan and Charles.
From the time of her arrival with Charles and Susan Oropallo, Bonnie’s full time job was as the CharlesWorks greeter.
Bonnie at her lookout post watching the driveway and street 5/3/18. Photo by Charles Oropallo.
Whenever web clients came to talk about websites or vendors came to talk to CharlesWorks they got to meet Bonnie. She always had a wagging tail and was so happy to see everyone.
In June of 2016, Charles Oropallo and Susan Oropallo took Bonnie with them for a ride to Florida to visit Arlene deSousa at the nursing home she was in. Bonnie got to see Arlene just before Arlene was taken to an intensive care unit. There are no words to describe how happy Bonnie was to see Arlene. And vice versa.
Unfortunately, Charles’s mom, Arlene deSousa, passed a little over a week from that time. Her obituary can be seen here on the Cheshire Family Funeral Home website.
Bonnie hiking with Susan and Charles 5/29/16. Photo by Charles Oropallo.
Susan and Charles had become extremely attached to Bonnie by that time. So Bonnie officially became adopted by Charles Oropallo and Susan Oropallo. They referred to her as Bonnie Oropallo.
Since Bonnie’s birth, whenever Susan and Charles visited Arlene in Florida they would take Bonnie out for walks. Bonnie was a very happy, great natured little dog.
Charles and Susan could not imagine their household without Bonnie in it. Moving to New Hampshire had to have been quite an experience for Bonnie. Her first winter was Bonnie’s first experience with snow and with freezing cold weather. A picture of Bonnie in snow for the first time can be seen on her website.
Bonnie warming up at fireplace 11/28/18. Photo by Charles Oropallo.
Bonnie didn’t seem to like wearing booties and sweaters and so on in the winter time but despite that, she would wear them and not try to remove them. Bonnie actually seemed to understand that they made her more comfortable outside during the freezing, sub-zero New Hampshire winter weather. And Bonnie loved to go out – the only exception being when it was raining.
Bonnie loved going for rides more than anything else. Ironically, once in the car and we were underway she’d usually just lay down and rest. Go figure. However, once a turn signal went on or we stopped, Bonnie would be up and wondering where we were and what adventure lies ahead. Sometimes in nice weather Charles would leave the passenger side window open and Bonnie couldn’t resist being a dog and sticking her head out as we drove. Charles and Susan’s cars all had little nose prints from Bonnie checking out where we were or what was going on outside.
Bonnie loved going to places like Belletete’s and Home Depot – where staff nearly always fussed over her and gave her treats. Same with her trips into People’s Bank and the GFA Federal Credit Union where she was always welcomed. She loved going to the Alltown gas station where Charles would always take her for a walk around the grounds.
Bonnie with Susan kayaking in Dublin Lake in NH 5/23/16. Photo by Charles Oropallo.
Bonnie liked going for walks with Charles and Susan in the park adjacent to the Peterborough Post Office. Another spot Bonnie seemed to really enjoy was going for a ride to the Howard Memorial Park on route 202 near Jaffrey NH and walking around there with Charles and Susan.
Another favorite ride was to the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Manchester with Charles. Bonnie was a hit with the vets and staff she came into contact with there. She loved to walk along the Veteran’s Administration grounds with Charles.
Charles took Bonnie just about everywhere with him. And Bonnie loved sniffing everywhere!
Charles and Bonnie all set to go for a ride 3/23/19. Photo by Susan Oropallo.
After rides, just going out for a walk was always a favorite. She enjoyed catching up with Barney, the Chihuahua that lived next door. If Charles or Susan asked Bonnie if she wanted to see if Barney was outside she would look out the front window towards Barney’s house next door to see if she could see him. Barney was one of the few dogs in Bonnie’s life that she was slightly larger than. She always looked for Gerry walking him when she went for walks.
Walks in any grassy areas were always fun for her. She enjoyed practicing her hunting skills – mostly in the back yard – by catching and eating grasshoppers.
Bonnie liked to initiate play. Even up to her last day, she would grab a toy and bring it to Charles or Susan and growl and dare them to take it from her. Bonnie had a few games she played that she appeared to make up. It was Charles and Susan’s task to figure out the rules for those games. Bonnie was a lot of fun. She was very affectionate and just relaxing and great to be around.
Bonnie had some folks who she seemed especially excited to see. Robin Snow and Bruce Carlton were special to her. She saw Robin when Robin came to work each day. Bonnie stayed at Robin and Bruce’s home many times when Charles and Susan went away. Pat Tetreault and Keum Joo Green were special to her as well. Bonnie had been part of camping trips with them. She also was fond of Neil Jeneral and Ingrid Allen. Neil had given Bonnie some ice cream once and there seemed to be a special bond ever after there. Evan Cole was another special person in Bonnie’s life – he stayed with her at Charles and Susan’s home when they were away. And she loved visiting Matt Burke at his office. Bonnie had stayed with Matt and his wife Melissa in the past.
Bonnie seemed to be in great health until recent issues with what was apparently a worsening heart issue. On Thursday August 29, 2019 she suffered a serious heart problem. Bonnie spent much of that day at the Animal Care Clinic in Peterborough, New Hampshire under Dr. Chuck Devinne and his wonderful staff’s care. Dr. Devinne indicated that day that we couldn’t tell how much time Bonnie had left.
Charles and Susan brought Bonnie home that afternoon and she seemed to rally. Not knowing how long they’d have with her, Charles and Susan spent the following days pampering Bonnie as much as possible.
On the following Tuesday afternoon, September 3rd, 2019, Bonnie suddenly appeared to become extremely weak. She got to spend a few minutes being held by Robin Snow before Charles and Susan rushed Bonnie to the Animal Care Clinic again. At about 2:20 PM, Bonnie passed. She was in Charles and Susan’s arms as they were assuring her over and over what a good little girl she was and that she was loved and that it was okay for her to sleep now.
Bonnie was a fantastic little poodle. She had never even had an accident in the house in the three and a half years she was with Charles and Susan in Peterborough. Their home is so much emptier without her. Bonnie will always be missed very, very much.
The Cheshire Funeral Chapel and Crematories also operate a pet crematory and were kind enough to help with Bonnie’s cremation process for Charles and Susan Oropallo.
