Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 9, 2021)
8A | SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 | ATTACKS COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL from A1 1992-2012, while concurrently serving as a U.S. Navy Chaplain with the Coast Guard. “Within one hour of the news coverage I saw the second plane hit the tower and I knew we were at war, Jenkins recalled. “I knew I would be deployed and began to think about what my next steps would be: Is my seabag packed? Who am I supposed to report to? Will my family be safe? Does Judy know where my will is? I knew in my heart I would be going to New York City.” In 1996, Texas natives Pat and Bill Gartman were ready to make a major life change. Bill sold his company and Pat retired from a career as a rehabilitation counselor in Dallas. As they drove to visit friends in Vancouver, Brit- ish Columbia, they were unable to find a motel in the Eugene area due to a track and field event so they spent the night in Cottage Grove. The next morning after break- fast, they explored the town and fell in love with it. After checking The Sentinel for property for sale, they bought a farm on the spot. “He wanted to relocate to some- where that wasn’t hot and humid. I was feeling some burnout after working many years as a counselor and was ready for a change,” Gartman recalled. “We didn’t know anyone in Oregon when we bought our farm here. I never did any- thing so crazy in my life!” The Gartmans returned to Texas and made regular trips to the farm and hap- pened to be there on Sept. 11. By now, Pat was a pharmaceutical rep- resentative. She was up at 5 a.m. drink- ing coffee, watching the morning news, and preparing for a meeting with her re- gional manager. The manager lived near San Francisco and was in Eugene for the meeting. As soon as the morning news anchors cut away to a plane crash in New York City, Pat woke up Bill and they watched the second plane crash into the other tow- er. Her manager called and was hysterical because her kids were in Walnut Grove and the babysitter left them to be with her family and all planes were now grounded. The Gartmans loaded their therapy dog, Uno, in the car and drove nearly non-stop to California to reunite the frantic mother with her kids. “She cried most of the way sitting in the backseat with Uno who was doing his best to comfort her,” Pat said. “With Uno’s extensive training with Springfield’s Hope Crisis Response we were ready if called upon to help.” In his book, Jenkins describes the brief encounter he had with Gartman and Uno in New York. It resulted in his circuitous and miraculous journey over many years to reconnect with them and to discover their Cottage Grove connection. The Gartmans bred and showed Ger- man shepherd dogs. For many years pri- or to 9/11, they participated with search and rescue teams with another dog. They bought Uno a year before he was born from a German breeder because his bloodline consistently produced world champions. Uno’s mother was sold to as part of the largest deployment of work- ing dogs in American history and became one of the estimated 400 dog teams sup- porting the workers on “The Pile”. The media often referred to the area where the towers fell as Ground Zero. But rescue workers soon began using the term “The Pile” to describe the 1.8 mil- lion tons of wreckage from the collapse of the World Trade Center’s twin 110 story buildings in lower Manhattan. For 100 days the jet fuel burned be- neath The Pile and when excavators un- covered an air pocket, a plume of fire shot up into the air. “The dogs were miraculous and very heroic,” Jenkins said. “There was destruc- tion as far as the eye could see, yet the “In that moment the dam broke and I let my- self cry. I don’t know how long it went on, but it was a cathartic, healing experience for me.” — Pat Jenkins, responder to Ground Zero their friend in Vancouver, British Colum- bia, and Pat was there in 1996 when Uno was born and selected him from the litter of six pups. When he was eight weeks old, she brought him home to Texas and took him everywhere so she could to socialize him with people. They went through obedience train- ing and then he spent a year in advanced training in Germany where he earned all of his working titles in German dog shows. He was consistently rated #1 in dog shows when she retired him from competition. Uno still wanted to keep working with people, so they began pet therapy train- ing. The duo were frequent visitors to PeaceHealth patients and the Looking Glass’ homeless teen program. “He was a natural and loved it,” Gart- man said. “He loved helping others as much as I did. I had the counseling de- grees but Uno was a better counselor that I ever dreamed of being.” Uno celebrated his fourth birthday with the Looking Glass teens just before the Hope Crisis Response Team received the call from the Red Cross asking them to come to New York to support the re- covery workers. They arrived on Day 14 dogs were tireless even while the pads of their feet were burned.” Pat said every day the dogs had to go to a Veterinarian MASH unit to check in and at the end of the day received another medical checkup and a decontamination bath. The vets created booties that were secured with duct tape to protect the paws from the heated metal they were walking on, which had to be changed at least three times a day. “Uno wouldn’t eat, drink or use the bathroom,” Gartman said. “All he wanted to do was work.” Jenkins and other military chaplains arrived on Day 12. Their team stayed for two weeks with their days divided into thirds: ministering first to the rescue and recovery workers on The Pile, then at a hastily-constructed morgue and finally at the Family Center inside Pier 94 de- signed to assist families of the fallen. Inside was a gi- ant curtained-off area that served as a makeshift nurs- ery and childcare center. More than 3,000 children lost a parent in the 9/11 at- tacks. The first meeting of Jen- kins, Gartman and Uno was on the only day she and Uno rode the ferry with vic- tims’ families. Jim reached an emotional wall about halfway through his time there as he dealt with refrigerated body parts in the morgue and the anguished faces of people surrounding The Pile looking for missing family members. “I began to feel very vulnerable and after comforting a woman in the family center I had to get as far away as I could from the people in that building. I sat down on the concrete floor and put my head down between my knees to collect myself so I could go on,” he recalled. Jenkins recalled getting a strange feel- ing someone was watching him and then felt someone breathing on him. He looked up and there was this beauti- ful German shepherd dog that put his head in Jenkins lap and looked up at him. “In that moment the dam broke and I let myself cry. I don’t know how long it went on, but it was a cathartic, healing experience for me,” he said. “I looked up at the dog’s owner and only asked her the name of her dog and thought she said ‘Bruno.’” Jenkins often told others of his ex- perience with an empathic Ground Zero therapy dog and spent years search- ing the internet pages on Ground Zero dogs looking for “Bruno” to no avail. He had another chance encounter with Gartman and Uno in the pediatric unit at PeaceHealth and was so excited to see “Bruno” he again forgot to ask the owner for her name. In another chance encounter 17 years after 9/11, he shared his dog story with the owner of a German shepherd sitting outside of a McMinnville Starbucks. It was then he learned the dog’s real name was Uno and the dog he was petting was one of Uno’s offspring. “I went online and searched for Uno and found him last year during the pan- demic,” Jenkins said. “I called Pat and See GROUND ZERO A9 OPAL CENTER IS SEEKING… PROVOCATIVE, FUNNY, HORRIFYING, AND ORIGINAL PLAYS BY EMERGING PLAYWRIGHTS FOR THE 2022 SEASON. CALL ABOUT OR EMAIL YOUR SUBMISSIONS AND PROPOSALS TODAY. SALES, SERVICE & REPAIRS Complete tech, networking, security and IT solutions for your home or business. 711 E. Main Street | Cottage Grove 541-649-1073 |www.pcgargageoregon.com Weldin g Supp l and Ga ses Sol ies d Here OPAL CENTER for ARTS & EDUCATION 513 E. Main St. Cottage Grove opalcentercg.org For More Information: 541-623-0513 Turn your yard into a Safe & Relaxing Sanctuary LANDSCAPE AND BUILDING MATERIALS • landscape design & planting • complete lawn care • trimming, weeding & mulching Tues-Sat 8:30am-5pm 7919 N. River Road 541-942-4664 100% Contactless Service! Details Online Quality Cleaning Honest. Dependable. Authentic Certifi ed Green PO Box 341 | Cottage Grove, Oregon 541-731-8528 |www.prasadalandscapes.com TURNING 65 AND NEED HELP WITH YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES? Call Paul to help simplify the complicated. 541-517-7362 Paul Henrichs ~ Independent Agent coverage4oregon@gmail.com Carpet Cleaning Specialists 541-942-0420 Let us help you select the right wood fl ooring for any room! Stop by our showroom for a free design consultation and estimate. What’s Rotary? We focus our time, energy, and efforts on service projects encompassing: Local Projects: High School Scholarships, Bike Helmets for Lincoln Middle School, Literacy, Crousel Wheelchair Space, Aquatic Center Mural, downtown Bike Lockers and Playground Equipment for Coiner Park An Unparalleled Selection of Global Projects: Thai Library Project, Clean Water in Central America Quality Wood Flooring Become a member today. Natural Hardwood | Engineered Hardwood Pine Flooring | Sustainable Bamboo Distressed Hardwood | Vinyl | Tile Rogers and Son Floor Covering 1324 E. Main St. | Cottage Grove 541-942-0500 |rogersandsonfl oorcovering.com Contact Karol Kuhn Simons rotary424cg@gmail.com Service Above Self
