Trust Of Savings For Animals

NEIGHBORS were used to seeing retired bookkeeper Kay Huffendick in well-worn clothes and her lawn unmowed. She was watching her pennies for a reason.

She was known to wear 40-year-old dresses and vinyl shoes from Kmart, to let the lawn of her brick Queen Anne home turn to weeds, rather than pay to have it mowed, and to make one meal last for days.

But Myrtle Katherine "Kay" Huffendick had a reason for her frugality.

When the retired bookkeeper for Pacific Northwest Bell Credit Union died of a stroke Dec. 12, she had saved enough to create an approximately $2 million trust that will benefit 23 charities, most of which help animals.

For the recipients who will share equally in the trust, it will mean several thousand dollars annually, depending on interest rates, said Lynne Marachario, a friend of Huffendick's and head of the trust.

Huffendick researched every organization and believed small, but steady, contributions would be most effective, Marachario said.

In addition to the Humane Society of the United States, the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and lesser-known organizations such as the Veal Calf Refuge and the Performing Animal Welfare Society (which looks after the welfare of animals used in the entertainment industry), she also listed the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Millionair's Club and the Union Gospel Mission.

She was especially touched by people or animals who were helpless, Marachario said, and "picked charities that protected those who needed to be protected."

Huffendick was 97 when she died and, having lived through the Depression, "knew the value of a dollar," Marachario said.

In the '30s and '40s, Huffendick ran Kay's Coffee Shop on Second Avenue. At the end of the day, she took what food was left over and gave it to those in need, Marachario said.

In the 1950s, Huffendick, went to work for the credit union and began investing in stock, a little bit at a time. She never married, supported an ill sister until her sister's death and outlived all but a few relatives.

What she lacked in family, she made up for by devoting herself to animals. She was one of the first to join PAWS when it was formed in 1967, and Virginia Knouse, a past executive director, credits her with helping PAWS grow.

Huffendick wrote thank-you notes for every donation and made each donor - no matter how small their contribution - feel important, Knouse said.

And she cared for numerous dogs and sometimes cats, later placing them in permanent homes - but only after she thoroughly screened the applicants.

Her personal belongings are now packed into boxes in her 1928 home. Among the effects, Marachario found photographs of dogs that passed through her friend's life. There were "lots of little mutsy types," she said, including cocker spaniel mixes, retrievers, Scottish Terriers and even a Russian wolfhound. A small black cocker she had for 17 years died within days of Huffendick's death.

As her neighbors gathered at the back door of the house the other day, they spoke of the times Huffendick dog-sat their pets, how they suspected the dogs - for whom she cooked homemade turkey loaves - ate better than she did.

They always knew she planned to continue to assist animals and PAWS, in particular.

"She always wanted to do well by PAWS," said Bonnie Brunton, a neighbor.

Huffendick has, said PAWS communications director Richard Huffman.

"We're always in need of money," Huffman said. "PAWS helps 10,000 animals a year. We don't euthanize healthy adoptive animals so everyday we're buying dog food, cat food, bunny food. Any donation is very helpful."

Nancy Bartley's phone message number is 206-515-5039. Her e-mail address is nbartley@seattletimes.co.