Obituaries

Olive Bombay Sapphire Hinkes, our beloved honey-colored Labrador Retriever, was born November 27, 2006 and passed from this world on April 21, 2021 at the age of 14 years and 5 months. She was very healthy until the last month of her life, when malignant tumors in both kidneys gradually extinguished her normally insatiable appetite and energetic lifestyle. She was preceded in death by her yellow-colored Sire, Ellle’s Prince Jake Roberson, and her chocolate-colored Dam, Cocoa Abbys Girl Matthews. The fate of her 5 littermates is unknown. She is survived by her human family, Michael Thomas Hinkes, Donna Marie Hinkes, Cole Bolger Hinkes and Connor Anthony Hinkes. She was adopted by her human family as a charity auction puppy when her father, after drinking several “dirty” martinis made with Bombay Sapphire gin and Olive juice, outbid a packed auditorium for the privilege of taking her home. She was the featured item of the evening and a huge hit with the audience. The next day, her 5-year-old human twin brothers were delighted to discover they had a furry new sister who could outrun them around the house. Olive lived the first 7 years of her life on Summer Lane NW in Atlanta, GA. She completed her undergraduate education at the prestigious PetSmart Puppy School under headmaster Garry Adams, graduating with high honors on April 21, 2007. She subsequently earned graduate degrees in fetching, shedding and rolling around in rotting organic matter. She spent countless hours chasing her brothers, tennis balls, and assorted animals on the quiet cul-de-sac in front of her home. She also loved playing endless games of tug-o-war and swimming in the backyard pool to cool off or retrieve objects thrown in the water. In addition, during her time at Summer Lane, she was bit on the muzzle by a copper head snake she discovered in the woods, and head butted on the nose by a kudzu-eating goat she tried to engage in conversation. The next 3 years were spent in an apartment complex at Post Riverside in Atlanta while her family’s new house was being built. She took immense pleasure living on the Chattahoochee River where she could roam off-leash and explore the deer trails and swim in the river to her heart’s content. She loved to chase deer, ducks and geese, and hunted ground squirrels, possum, rabbits and muskrats. She had several unusual adventures while at Post Riverside, including being head-butted on the nose (again) by a buck and witnessing her father rupture his quadriceps tendon on two separate occasions, both requiring medical evacuation from the woods. Her final years were spent at her family’s new home on Pineland Rd NW in Atlanta where she was the queen of Chastain Park. She was best friends with the local mailman, construction workers and landscapers, and would relax inside by watching all the passersby from the dining room window. She loved to watch her mother cook and would patrol the kitchen floor to clean up any dropped morsels of food. She also delighted in welcoming her brothers’ many friends who came to the house and would accompany them on various outings to the Chattahoochee River or Chastain Park. Olive was a treasured member of our family and taught us many important life lessons. She epitomized the virtues of unconditional love and devotion, as her only goal in life was to make her family happy. Every molecule of DNA in her body was programmed to express pure joy. She was gentle and welcoming to everyone and everything she ever met and exemplified the best traits of the canine family. She had a supercharged zest for life and was smart and obedient. She also had enormous patience and the uncanny ability to calm herself immediately when the situation warranted. She was a beautiful dog who received many unsolicited compliments from strangers about her coloring and physical stature, but it was the radiance of her kind face and expressive eyes that were her most arresting features. Olive will always be loved and remembered for the ways in which she enriched our lives as only a dog can. She really, really was a “Good Girl”. May you rest in peace.