Remembering an old friend, welcoming a new one
Staff writer
When Marion preschoolers returned from winter break, a familiar sound was missing.
Whistling Dixie, the class guinea pig who greeted children each morning from her hutch near the door, had died over the holiday. Rather than quietly replacing her, teacher Lesli Beery chose to slow down and let her students confront something many adults try to shield young children from — loss.
“They really loved her,” Beery said. “I didn’t feel like it was healthy for them to just get a replacement because that’s not always what happens in life.”
Beery said Whistling Dixie had been elderly and ill, and a decision was made during break to have her euthanized. When classes resumed, Beery informed parents ahead of time and gave families the option to process the loss at home before the class addressed it together.
Inside the classroom, students talked about Whistling Dixie, shared memories, and drew pictures that were bound into a memory book. Students recalled feeding her cucumbers. One missed her because “she was my friend.”
The conversations naturally opened into discussions about sadness, death, and the idea that a body can simply stop working, Beery said.
“We teach that all feelings are OK,” she said. “It’s not comfortable, but it’s part of life. Life’s not all rainbows.”
Only after several days of discussion did Beery introduce the class’s new pet — a trained to be handled rabbit named Danny. Danny was donated through a Kansas Farm Bureau connection, and now lives in the same hutch. Whistling Dixie’s photo remained nearby until students agreed together it was time to place it in her memory book.
The experience became one of the most meaningful lessons of the school year, Beery said.
“They’ll still come in and say, ‘Hi, Danny,’ and then tell me they miss Dixie,” she said. “And that’s OK. You can feel happy and sad at the same time.”
Class pets are a regular part of the Head Start program, Beery said. They help students learn responsibility, empathy, and care through daily classroom jobs such as feeding animals and maintaining their habitats. For some children, the classroom provides their first close experience with caring for a pet.
“This is one more way to help them develop empathy for animals and for each other,” she said.
As part of the preschool’s ongoing pet study, students also visited Marion Animal Health Center, where veterinarian Jessica Gernhard conducted a wellness check on Danny while children watched.
Gernhard had previously cared for Whistling Dixie and shared the moment with students, including showing them an X-ray of the guinea pig as part of a learning moment.
The visit reinforced lessons about animal care while also helping children understand illness and health in age-appropriate ways, Beery said.
What she hopes students carry with them is not just affection for a rabbit but also the understanding that loss can be shared and remembered.
“I really hope they learn that it’s OK to be happy and sad at the same time,” Beery said, “and that we can help each other through the hard things as a family, as a classroom, as a community.”