Iron Frog Productions

DEWEY

Grey District Library
Greymouth, New Zealand

Final chapter for grumpy library cat
Monday, 18 February 2008
By FRANCES BUCKLEY

Dewey, the former Grey District Library cat, has died just a week
short of his 16th birthday. Born at Dunn’s Transport, at Dunollie,
on Valentine’s Day, 1992, Dewey — named to honour Melvil Dewey, the
inventor of the decimal classification system used in libraries all
over the world — was adopted by the Greymouth library staff when 10
weeks old. He was by no means the only library cat named Dewey. He
was registered on an American website devoted to cats in libraries
worldwide, of which more than a few were also red and named Dewey. A
handsome red tabby, he became familiar all over Greymouth and was
frequently returned to the library by concerned strangers who found
him at all points of the compass. Following the tradition of
redheads, he had a short fuse and many a patron received a bite when
ignoring warnings not to get too familiar. Conversely, when he
fancied someone they were expected to pat and fondle him whether
they enjoyed it or not. Dewey had many adventures during his 12
years as library mascot. His favourite food was fresh fish and, in
the pursuit of this delicacy, he once spent two weeks at sea on one
of the local fishing boats. On his return to port he was returned
home by the licensee of the Gilmer Hotel.

Dewey developed a penchant for hitching a ride to the Grey Base
Hospital, from which it took him a week to travel home via
Blaketown, unless a kind nurse, as often happened, called on library
staff to retrieve him from the hospital grounds. One of his noted
exploits involved visiting the courthouse on a regular basis. This
was received with good cheer until the day he cracked up the court
by deciding to join the accused in the dock. The magistrate was not
amused, although the gallery was, and ordered him ejected and banned
from further appearances.

Dewey could often be seen by patrons in the small hours playing with
one or more of the town’s pub cats on the floodwall. The pub cats
delighted in playing with a rat or mouse for sport, although Dewey
alone almost never caught either bird or mouse. In the four years of
his retirement, Dewey lived with his new family Emma and Simon
Moran, in Milton Road. He adapted happily too to sharing his life
with the two children, Harry and Kate, when they came along. As he
had done all his life, he chose for himself the time and place of
his passing. Frances Buckley was the district librarian for 26 years.