Last night I received a note from Raul Gomez that his dog Sonny, the friendly beagle who’s lived at Wunsch Farms for years, was missing, and would I post a note on Old Mission Gazette’s Facebook page.
Absolutely. I’m always happy to spread the word about missing pets and anything else related to the Old Mission Peninsula.
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This morning I woke up to the sad news that Sonny had been found, and had passed away. Emma, Raul’s girlfriend, said that Raul got Sonny in Ypsilanti in 2011 when he was just six weeks old, “and he has been Raul’s co-pilot and very best friend ever since.”
I first met Sonny after church one day in 2015. Mom and I were driving around the neighborhood biding time until Old Mission Tavern opened so we could have our usual after-church lunch. As we drove up Eimen Road, we noticed the little beagle and stopped to make sure he was ok.
The friendly little guy hopped into the car with us, and we saw that he had a collar and tags with his address. So we dropped him off at Barb and Josh Wunsch’s on the corner of Eimen Road and Peninsula Drive, and had a nice chat with Barb (one of my first childhood friends).
A true farm dog, Sonny loved to roam and was frequently seen around the orchards and neighborhood, often venturing south to Hooper’s Farm Gardens on Kroupa Road.
One of the last times I saw Sonny was shortly after Josh passed away last year, when we stopped by Wunsch Farms to see how Barb was doing.
She was working in her Peak Season CSA Farm (community supported agriculture) and Sonny was there, on the move as always, but not venturing too far from Barb and Isaiah, Barb and Josh’s son who runs the farm now. Sonny slowed down long enough for me to take the photo at the top of this story.
But clearly, Sonny didn’t just belong to Raul. He belonged to the Old Mission Peninsula. Or maybe, we belonged to him.
That little dog will be greatly missed by all who knew him. Rest in Peace, Sonny.
