Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 2/9/2022
WESTFIELD — A local author will have her very first signing event this Saturday at a local gym, for her book celebrating the human relationship with dogs.
Heidi Colonna will be signing copies of her book, “Dear Gretchen: Letters to My Dog,’’ from 4 to 7 p.m. on Feb. 12 at Dynamic Fitness, 77 Mill St., Westfield. In keeping with the theme of her book and her general outlook on life, Colonna said that the signing event will be dog-friendly.
Book purchases made at the signing event will benefit the Hearts to Pawz Project, which gives funds for the medical needs of animals at the Westfield Regional Animal Shelter.
“Dear Gretchen” is Colonna’s first foray into book writing, though she has written professionally for publications such as Kind News, All Animals, and Animal Sheltering.
The memoir tells the story of Colonna’s grieving process after her childhood dog, Gretchen, died of old age in 1999. When Gretchen was laid to rest on Colonna’s mother’s property in Southwick, Colonna wrote a letter to her late friend and left it in the grave with Gretchen.
After an incident that Colonna could only describe as a miracle during a visit to the dog’s grave five years later, she began to write letters to Gretchen on a regular basis, in part as a therapeutic habit, but also because Colonna thinks that Gretchen is still with her in some way.
“Dear Gretchen: Letters to my Dog” was released Dec. 29, and can be found at local bookstores, including Blue Umbrella Books in downtown Westfield.