Rags Memorial

July 10, 1942 - Kokomo Tribune

"Just a plain dog, he knew everyone who visited the busy business center at Markland Avenue and Main Street," it read in part. "He patrolled the beat with each policeman, ignoring those who were not in uniform. He ate his meals regularly in the section's best restaurants, dropped in the taverns now and then for a little session with the boys.

"He guarded little children at busy corners and wagged a little mop of a tail hundred of thousands of times each day when spoken to by his multitude of friends."

Rags was finally struck and killed by a car. He was so well-liked that a triangular piece of land was donated for his burial site. Eller's Mortuary embalmed him and provided a casket. A marker and latticework bier was built to remember Rags.

For his funeral, shops in the area closed for one-half hour. His friends gathered to hear a eulogy. A freight engine blew its horn as over one thousand people paid their respects to a little dog that loved everybody. Over the years the marker disappeared, the latticework and flowers that marked his memorial are now gone as well.

Please join current Kokomo City Councilmen Greg Davis and Bob Stephenson as we raise money to remember Rags and all he meant to our community. We all have had a Rags in our life that stole our hearts and helped us through thick and thin. In your dog's memory and in memory of Rags, let's again mark his grave and celebrate all that dogs have added to our lives. All money in excess of what is needed will be donated to the Kokomo Humane Society.