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Mini Rex Memories  

 We capture our memories in many ways

One Very happy Jan Cofelt    and her Blue Eyed  White Mini Rex!!

Congratulations  for a job well done.  



2003  saw the return of Eric Brennen   So good to see him back into rabbits.

Eric Brennen,  Doreen Schultz and Linda Thompson


This shows why you should be careful  of what you say  that you will do if you win!

Janis Fossati said  "Pigs will fly before I  ever win BOV White"  
" If I do I will wear my  PJ's to the Banquet!"



Guess who won BOV White at the 2003 Convention!

The 2002 Mini Rex Club Banquet  provided us with  insight  into the minds of a few.
A view of happier times, what happened?

    Frightening isn't it?

I could not attend the 2002 National Mini Rex Show  so Wade Burkhalter   took these great shots of Janis Key  Fossati.     There is a  neat story behind  these.  Why else would a grown woman be brought to tears over a little bag of  Red Dirt.
Janis examines  the little package  I sent.

 

Showing off the photographs           Janis   is crying  and  trying get the little box open

      

Surprise!                                                            It real "Terra Rubra "             

The story is  after seeing the introduction  to  my web page she saw that I lived close to her family ancestral home;  Terra Rubra.      Yes Janis is a bonified decendent of Francis Scott Key!    Here are a few of those photographs  that I  took  two days  before   Nationals.   Terra Rubra is one of the few places in the US  where it is mandated by Congress that the flag fly 24 hours a day.
      
                   


This group was  taken for the 1988 ARBA Convention in Madison Wisconsin.  The theme that year  was "Vacation Wonderland"  and the Mini Rex came prepared!


Shopping at the Pumpkin Farm

          Do you  like this little one?                            Oh this one is perfect!


Camping

                  Something smells GOOD!!                                              Let me see if the Veggie-bergers are ready                                 


            No Kidding,  thats amazing?                               Lets see you had two...


Trooper  the Broken Tort  was a top winning show rabbit back  in  1988 under working standard,  my how far we have come.


Stella ready for the lead line class                                           " Kiss"
         Riding at a Horse show                                          Trooper  visiting the Dairy.


These  fake horses are not as much  fun as the real thing



          A quiet walk on the beach                                   Siesta on the beach

Gads  the ears  we had waaaay back in 1988!!!  


Life on the Beach.

This was by far the most popular shot that I took




Monna Berryhill  the originator  of the MINI REX RABBIT
 at the 1988 Mini Rex booth.  


The Tension mounts!!


                        Monna watches                                   The Committee looks

    The Committee  continues to look       
    Monna explains.




Now we  take a look back  at some of the original Mini Rex people.



Linda Thompson  Sponsor for Tortoise  and Tri Color
Bill Turner  sponsor for the Red
 Judy Ball  sponsor for Lilac
Photo taken in 1992
        

                      Eric Brennen  sponsor for the                Ken and Mona Berryhill                   
                       Black variety    1992  Photo                      1990 Photo





We had some great entertainment at the 1991 National Mini Rex show in Fort Worth Texas!!


Bob McBee  " trouble "  our biggest supporter and long time friend.
1992 photo.


The Angora

9th place SR Buck   1996 ARBA Convention  Peoria.  I saw this  guy during the judging of the Senior buck class,  imagine my surprise to find  that he was mine.  I never bothered to look at markings!  

I'll put  more  up as I find the photos.



San Diego  2001

The  banquet
We did a lot of Laughing!

 





Candids at the booth


Poor Karen ...We were not picking on her,  honest!
" and then the rabbit jumped"    Karen  explaining how the "dead" rabbit came to life.

 
            " these are Argyle socks"                       "see  this is what happens when you                                                                  
                                                                                 fall over someone's carriers"

A trip to the Beach
Linda Thompson at the beach.

Sunset reflected in the wet sand  and  surf.
See more of the beach on Photography page.





Some of those who  were there to see the Mini Rex start  and have now passed on. Their  memory  lives on.

Feb 29, 1948 -May 4, 2010    
We lost one of the Mini Rex  cornerstones.  An  international  wildlife artist,   beloved by all who  knew her   Linda Thompson  will be long remembered for  her unselfish giving of her time, her expertise , her  art and her friendship.

 
Linda with her first rabbit in 1984
    
                      Linda   giving a painting demonstration   in 2008           One of many trips to   the beach.
Good bye my friend  I  miss you
  Mona,  Glenna Gibson,  and the late Walter Gibson.  Walter ( Punkin' Head)  was the second President  of the NMRRC in  the  mid 1990's until his death.


Linda Hipple,  the late  Dick  Boynton,  Alice Carbonneau and  the late Ellen  Roche . Dick  and Alice  were pioneer  Rex breeders who   took  on Mini Rex  in  the early years of the breed.  Dick  had already  given  up  his beloved Rex because they had become too much for him at age 80.  He found that with the Mini Rex  he "could still have his Rex" and continued to  raise Mini Rex for another 5 or 6 years. .  Dick  left us in November of 2001 at 92 years of age.  Ellen  was lost in April  2001  .

August  6  2002  Long time breeder , judge  and friend Harry Boots III  ( Papa  Boots)  

September 29, 2003 Mitch Highfill of Texas.
His Blue Hill  Mini Rex were the foundation  to may Texas and Oklahome  breeders. .  
Mitch  helped make that 1991 National Mini Rex show   in Texas  an event to remember.

10/6/05  Road Pizza   the  little rescue poodle who traveled with me  for nearly 10 years.

4/16/06  Gloria Middleton   one of the first   three official  Mini Rex breeders.

November 28, 2006  Bob Hill  " Mr Otter"   Bob was the originator of the Otter Rex in 1987  and joined the Mini Rex ranks  shortly after.

One of our early Youth members Ellen Roche, so full of fun and laughter.
We enjoyed knowing her.

Ellen grew up   and went into Medical research at Johns Hopkins Hospital.  In 2001 she volunteered for an Asthma study at Hopkins, a study that went  terribly wrong.



                
 Ellen 1990                                 2001    file photo.





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