I learned this evening that my very first friend at Texas A&M, roommate, and bridesmaid, Dr. Mandy Riddle, DVM, has passed away. Mandy was the smartest, most genuine, wonderful, and fun person I have ever known. The first time I met Mandy was about a week after A&M sent notice of our random roommate selection. She called me up and said she was driving up to A&M and wanted to know if I would like to join her. She was going to drop off job applications at the Vet School. After 6 applications, the husbandry department relented and gave the pesky freshman a job. Within 6 months she had landed on a research team and was working on being published for the first time. That summer between freshman and sophomore year was spent as a nonpaid intern at Yellowstone National Park tagging black bears and grizzly bears. I have a cool postcard she sent me that summer. The end of sophomore year she was accepted to A&M’s prestigious Vet School. . .one of the youngest ever—after only 2 years of undergrad. Mandy was a doctor by the age of 23. Don’t fool yourself into thinking I was rooming with a bookworm. She was just brilliant. God, we had fun. We had pet Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches (Fred & Ethel) as pets, she cleaned out her closet to make room for Otis the owl to live in for a week at a time if she volunteered to do a demonstration with him to a school class. Smart bird—use to dive bomb an old boyfriend of mine. We poured ice cold water on unsuspecting friends in the shower; we took all the leftover toilet paper from the 3 floors and teepeed someone’s room once that had trusted us with her key after a nasty prank; we took trays from the dining hall on an ice day and slid down the northside hills, she put my 50lb full length mirror on the window ledge for getting an alarm clock that said “Wake up! Wake Up to a Happy Day!” Besides animals, Mandy loved her folksy music, hiking, and her friends and family--she would do anything for you. She lived a full life in her 40 years, but it isn’t enough for us that she has left behind. She has suffered through health problems the last few years and I am glad that she is no longer in pain and living among the angels. . .but this still hurts so very bad. I will miss you, My Friend and will call out a mighty “Here!” at April’s rollcall. Love you, Shauna.
Posted on: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 02:55:48 +0000
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