One day in the early 1920s, a funeral was held in Windham Center. Invitations to this somber event had been sent by the close “relatives” of the recently deceased, whose name was Buffy Greenleaf Clarke. She was the beloved pet cat of two ladies who lived in the Goold homestead at the corner of Windham Center and Nash roads. One of Buffy Clarke’s owners was Abba Goold Woolson, a womens’ rights advocate, poet and admirer of Queen Isabella of Spain. The funeral was undoubtedly her idea.

Mourners who attended the services had been advised to dress in full funeral regalia of the period, right down to gloves and hats, and the family of the departed, it is said, was quite distressed when some of the men did not remove their hats to honor the deceased.

Those who attended brought bouquets of flower to decorate the gravesite.

A pink satin-lined casket was the final resting place for Buffy, who went to her eternal rest with a pink rose in her paws. She was buried in the private Goold family cemetery in back of the homestead. Buffy’s headstone carries her name and vital statistics etched in stone.

Buffy’s grave in the private Goold family cemetery.