Farrah Fawcett Morrison passed away peacefully at the South Boston Animal Hospital on Monday, June 24. Farrah was 14.
Suzanne adopted Farrah from the Animal Rescue League as “Noel from Dorchester” in the setting of “too many cats,” after FFM batted her eyes at Suzanne and then put her head on her shoulder. Upon arrival to her new home, Farrah walked through the door, puffed out her chest, and told her first husband, Cam, that she had arrived. Farrah never looked back.
Farrah had many loves – chief among them her three husbands: Cam, Mazz, and Bo. Like any relationship, they had their ways and their stuff. Cam was Farrah’s protector and mentor; Mazz was her partner in crime; Bo, her equal. There were many instances of “copy catting” – Farrah teaching Bo her love of being brushed; Cam teaching Farrah how to tolerate the vacuum; and Farrah and Mazz teaching one another their tricks of the trade of chasing and being chased.
Farrah was very vocal about most things throughout her life. Interestingly, she had a language for and with each of them – with Mazz, she screamed bloody murder every time he jumped on top of her; with Bo, very quick and soft tones. Throughout FFM’s life, she expressed her literacy with different words and intonations for the situations at hand.
Farrah’s greatest love and perhaps the things that brought her the most peace was her balcony and the seasonal flowers that kept her company from May to early Fall. Farrah would sit with her flowers for hours, often trance-like with her eyes open yet somewhere else. Farrah would also eat the flowers but that is another story for another time.
What made Farrah Farrah though was her deep sensitivity to her environment. She expressed her opinion about everything with her ears, tail, voice, and being. In her youth, Farrah had a hard time sharing attention with other people and cats. Over time, though, this changed and her concern and jealousy dissipated…, with one exception: Princeton Interviews. Every Interview Season, Farrah would jump on Suzanne’s computer, the notes she had taken, and otherwise do anything other than help Suzanne write her reports or manage her spreadsheets. At times she was comical, most others she was a huge disruptive pain in the rump. Farrah was otherwise wholly uninterested in anything else related to the computer. It was as though she knew how much Suzanne loved interviews and wanted to ensure that she didn’t love them more she did than her.
Farrah’s sensitivity was also apparent in her interactions with those in her environment. When Suzanne couldn’t sleep, Farrah would jump on the bed with a concerned hello, as though to say, “Enough. Time to sleep.” And it was. When Mazz was in very bad shape, Farrah would go over to him and kiss his head with the seeming hope that he would feel better, or to otherwise express her concern. And when Suzanne returned home one night to find a gorgeous cardinal dead on her floor without any idea how in the world this had happened, Farrah was completely unnerved, like she had witnessed a murder or some other traumatic ending. While we shall never know, it was very clear from the look on Farrah’s face and her posture that she didn’t do it.
The last year of Farrah’s life was one of noticeable changes and decline. It was also one of tremendous love. Farrah was both the same and different with Suzanne dedicated to figure out both what wasn’t right and how to help Farrah feel better. There was an understanding between them that while it seemed new had probably been there since that first day at the Animal Rescue League. Farrah continued to express herself on the regular, yet in different ways – with new words and actions. Suzanne missed the Farrah who would purr and howl and watch TV with her, yet accepted this Farrah unconditionally and without question.
Farrah is survived by Suzanne, her third husband Bowie (Bo), and predeceased by Mazz (2nd husband) and Cam (1st husband). She was cremated and will have her remains spread in her balcony garden.
Thank you to all who loved and fallowed Farrah for your kindness then and now. Likely, she’s with us still, and will make this clear to us during Interview Season if not sooner.