Patsy Ann, Official Greeter of Juneau
photo of a bull terrier
Patsy Ann, a Bull Terrier, was born in Portland, Oregon on October 12, 1929 and came to Juneau as a pup. She died in Juneau on March 30, 1942.
On the following day, a small crowd watched as her coffin was lowered into Gastineau Channel just a short distance from where her sculpture now sits, watching and waiting with eternal patience, whether shrouded in fog, bathed in sunshine or covered with snow.
Because of her unerring sense of the imminent arrival of each ship that visited Juneau and her faithful welcome at wharfside, Juneau Mayor Goldstein dubbed Patsy Ann "Official Greeter of Juneau, Alaska" in 1934.
Patsy Ann was stone deaf (from birth), but she somehow "heard" the whistles of approaching ships long before they came into sight, and headed at a fast trot for the wharf. She was never wrong. In fact, on one memorable occasion, a crowd was given erroneous information and gathered at the wrong dock. Patsy Ann gazed at the crowd for a long moment, then turned and trotted to the correct dock.
Photo of Patsy Ann of Juneau
Fifty years after her death, her statue was commissioned by the "Friends of Patsy Ann" and installed on the wharf she knew so well. Sculpted by New Mexican artist Anna Burke Harris, clippings of dog hair from all over the world were included in the bronze at the time of casting, symbolically uniting the spirit of dogs everywhere. On July 3, 1992 at 7:30 p.m., Patsy Ann, in her new incarnation, was presented to the world under blue skies with a balmy breeze in the air.
statue of a dog, image
Photo by Derek Reich, many thanks
Patsy Ann sits at North 58 degrees, 17 minutes and 91 seconds North Latitude and 134 degrees, 24 minutes and 17 seconds West Longitude.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Juneau from cruise ships and are welcomed on the dock by Patsy Ann, as they would have been in the 1930's.
They are encouraged to "greet her and touch her and in leaving, carry with you the blessings of friendship through your life's journey"
May her Spirit Live Forever
James Collins Scottish Essays
