Missing St. Louis Woman disappeared in Ouray, CO

UPDATE:

Very sad news on Cindy Gottschalk who had been missing since May 17th. Bonnie -----Original Message----- From: muddybiker [mailto:muddybiker@earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 7:54 PM Subject: Cindy Gottschalk Hello, I just wanted to write a last time to let you know that Mom was found in the Ouray mountains. She did not survive. We'll miss Ma dearly and are reeling from the news but are glad she is not suffering from cold, hunger, fear or worse. We feel we are lucky to have had Ma around for as long as she was and she'll always be with us in our thoughts. Finding her makes us fortunate in a way so many families of missing people are not. We are grateful beyond words to have Shadow back safe with us. She is doing well. The Ouray Police and Sheriff's Office, San Juan County Sheriff's Office, Search and Rescue and so many people including you that were involved gave Ma the attention she deserved, thank you. As Dad said, we'd go back to the Colorado mountains again, it was the dementia that took our Mom, not Colorado. Again, Thanks so much for your compassion and quick response in a hard and painful time. It was amazing to see how much caring there is in this world, our gratitude to you all, Susan, Lauren, Tammy, Dad, Shadow and I know Ma'd thank you for trying, too. Ma as dementia took hold loved to walk with Shadow to her favorite garden stores in Kirkwood. She would throw newspapers closer to people's homes if she came across them on the sidewalk. She loved looking at other people's gardens on the way. Her garden was one of the brightest spots in her life, as was dad, who she often said she was lucky to have. She was so proud for her yard to be recognized for its beauty one month and awarded by the city of Oakland, where they live. She was also able to let us know she thought the three of us turned out well. That was because of the way dad and mom raised us. She enjoyed her granddaughter and grandson. She had a lot of trouble saying things that made sense, could no longer drive her truck and had to quit working because of dementia. This was very frustrating for her because her independence was extremely important to her. Dad tried his best to give her as much freedom as possible. She'd have been so unhappy without it. Before dementia hid a lot of her old personality she was silly and fun-loving. She'd give dad a hug in the morning and tell him to have a rotten day, handing him the lunch she'd packed for him. She'd be up before all of us, making breakfast and getting us ready for school. She inspired me to stay at home with my son, to give him the same as she gave us. She used to dance with us around the living room singing this really grusome song called Rickety Tickety Tin. You never knew when you'd get pulled out of your seat to dance around with her. We loved it! Mom wasn't any more perfect than the rest of us but she was a kind, honest, non-judgmental and wonderful person. Once she and I raced the shopping cart from the grocery to the car and the eggs jumped out of the cart and broke. She just laughed about it. After all, it was her idea. We learned to cook with her. Baking from scratch cookies and french apple pie was a lot of fun. One St. Patrick's Day EVERYTHING we ate was GREEN! From the scrambled eggs in the morning to the mac n cheese at night and everything in between. She and Dad taught us to love walking with many trips to downtown Kirkwood and hiking at Rockwoods. We learned about the healing powers of Matzo Ball soup when we were sick. For Halloween she hand-sewed elaborate costumes. She also made dollhouses, a stable and beautiful doll clothes for us to play with. We didn't have much money then but it didn't matter, Mom and Dad worked hard to give us what we needed and they suceeded and surpassed. We are the people we are today due greatly to them. Of course I'll never be able to convey Mom to you but this is a small piece of the memories she's gifted to us. Thanks Mom. Susan. -----Original Message----- From: Bonnie Buckley [mailto:b.lb@verizon.net] Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2004 8:12 PM To: b.lb@verizon.net Subject: CO: Missing Woman & her Female Border Collie Please cross post....someone, somewhere must have seen this woman and her dog? 2 recent news articles on her disappearance, contact information is below with a photo of her and her Border Collie. http://denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E2178643,00.html http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/3357990/detail.html Thanks, Bonnie "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well." --Ralph Waldo Emerson Military Mascots http://www.militarymascots.org Homeless Paws http://www.adopthomelesspaws.org

Subject: Missing person and dog
Please cross post this to all rescuers and shelters and friends in Colorado and elsewhere. Seems kind of unlikely that someone would be sheltering this poor woman and not have called their LE who would know about her missing person status. However, the dog could easily be found somewhere and not reported. And finding the dog could lead to information about the woman. I fear for both of them.

Judy Renfroe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sent: Friday, May 28, 2004 4:35 AM
Subject: From Paula Patton: Missing Person-Cindy Gottschalk

A friend of mine with Tervs mother and dog is missing. Thought I would pass this on to western folks.

Tks, Paula
Mom is missing! We are trying to get the word out so please if you have a little time forward this to everyone you can. Mom walked out of the inn in Ouray Colorado where she was vacationing to walk her border collie mix Shadow on 5/17 and both never returned. A search and rescue dog indicated a trail that ends at hwy 550 so she might have gotten a ride out of town. She may still be in the woods of Ouray but an extensive search has produced nothing so far. Mom has dementia and may be unable to communicate her needs so we need as many people as possible to know her and Shadow's face and plight so they'll know to help her even if she can't or doesn't ask. They could be anywhere. Neither have ID. Shadow is wearing a nylon collar with a 6' leather leash and is microchipped.