Buttons saved by kind stranger


A stranger walking his own dogs saved the life of Buttons who had been missing for nearly one week. Reminder Publications submitted photo

By Danielle Paine

Reminder Assistant Editor

WILBRAHAM Heroes come in many forms.

Often, it is a simple, kind deed that can make the biggest impact. For the Szmyt family, their hero's good deed was literally just a taking a walk in the park.

On Oct. 16, Anne-Marie Szmyt opened the door of her Wilbraham home to take out the garbage. Buttons, the family's three-year-old Beagle, saw the chore as his chance to escape and darted out to freedom.

Szmyt said that she tried to lure Buttons back inside with food but it was to no avail. Soon, it became a dark, cold night and Buttons was still nowhere to be found.

"We looked for him all that night and the next day, then we went to all of the dog shelters," Szmyt said. "When he wasn't there, we just assumed something had happened."

By Monday, six days later, and still with no word from the police or shelters, it had seemed that all hope was lost. They grieved as a family, Szmyt said, as she told her daughter that Buttons had gone to heaven.

Suddenly, the phone call they had been waiting for finally came.

"Is this Anne Marie? I have Buttons," the caller said.

"As it turned out, that gentleman was walking his two dogs behind the senior center when he and one of the women who live there heard something rustling in the woods," Szmyt said about Button's rescuer, Wilbraham resident Steve Verducci. "They found him and brought him water, then contacted us with the info on his collar."

Buttons was back home again, although he wasn't quite in one piece. More than 100 stitches and one leg cast were needed to fix the damage, that Szmyt believes was done by a car, on Button's first day of freedom.

"What they determined was that he probably got hit by a car on the first day then was living in the woods for two days," Szmyt said. "He's like a little miracle dog."

Szmyt said the experience made her realize that there are good people out there who care about each other and each other's animals. The entire family is grateful to Verducci for reuniting them with Buttons.

"My daughter, who is only five, told everyone that Buttons got kicked out of heaven for barking so much," Szmyt said.