Man who reunited with dog has died
Walter Smith of Titusville, whose tireless search for his lost dog garnered headlines and eventually led to an amazing reunion, has died at age 93.
Smith was a businessman in Rockford, Ill., for most of his life. After his wife Jane died, he bought a yellow lab named Buddy and brought him to Florida, where he lived for part of the year.
Then one day in January 2002, Buddy vanished from Smith's van in Merritt Island's Home Depot parking lot, and the search began, with posters, newspaper ads and heartbreaking visits to animal shelters.
Out of that search came one good thing: A police officer who'd handled the missing dog report coaxed Smith into adopting a Papillon puppy, whom Smith named Pappy, or Papi.
"He loves everybody," Smith said. "He barks at them, but he just loves them all."
Then, in 2007, sisters Beth Beeco and Linda Rodman of Edgewater adopted a yellow Lab who was about to be abandoned at the pound. His name was Buddy.
Later that year, they stumbled across the lost Buddy's photo online and realized, with his freckled, strawberry nose, it was almost certainly the same dog. Smith got to meet his old friend again. "It's almost like finding a long-lost child," he said at the time.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20091225/NEWS01/912250326/1006/Man+who+reunited+with+dog+has+died