University City\u2019s Marcy Park mesa was blustery with wind\u00a0on Sept. 21, a Saturday, when the Peter Burch Memorial Dog\u00a0Fountain was dedicated to a University City leader who served as past president of the University City Community Association (UCCA) and as a member of the University City Planning Group.\u00a0 The special fountain that serves able and disabled humans, as well as dogs, was chosen to honor a man who loved dogs, especially his own, a big golden retriever who might play the part of Clifford in the children\u2019s stories we all love, if a live stage or movie production were planned. Barclay weighs around 100 pounds and is the most lovable dog one could own.
\nPeter Burch was\u00a0an English transplant to University\u00a0City \u00a0who loved his wife, children and little grandchildren, but he\u00a0shared Colette\u2019s\u00a0view on dogs: “Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet.”\u00a0\u00a0
\nA\u00a0rare form of cancer attacked Peter\u00a0when he was 65 in 2011\u00a0and he passed away on Sept. 13, 2012. He will be remembered for his keen sense of\u00a0humor and\u00a0devotion to his family.\u00a0 \u00a0
\nNeighbors would see\u00a0him in the early morning, walking in his cardinal and gold slippers\u00a0to pick up his newspaper (he got his MBA\u00a0at USC and joined the Trojan family for life). During his difficult battle with cancer and while dealing with some horrific side effects from medications, Peter still managed to travel to six different countries to visit his family and friends abroad during the last part of his life.
\nUCCA decided to take on a project that would improve Marcy Park, a pocket park in the west end of U.C., where dog lovers gather in the evenings around 5 o\u2019clock to walk their dogs and let them socialize with other canines.\u00a0 Thirsty dogs had a challenge before the installation of this new fountain. The big\u00a0dogs did a balancing act on their back legs to get water from the old\u00a0fountain and the smaller ones\u00a0were\u00a0lifted awkwardly\u00a0to the weak stream of water coming from an aged fountain.
\nFor the past 11 months,\u00a0a UCCA committee\u00a0journeyed on a road with twists and turns, involving city approval and the challenge of finding funding until it all came to fruition in the park when UCCA\u2019s president\u00a0Barry Bernstein welcomed a crowd of some 20 canines and around 70 humans who listened to\u00a0some speeches,\u00a0ate some brownies and cookies shaped like dog bones, and drank lemonade.
\nDog\u00a0treats\u00a0were also available. Artist Julie Ditzler had\u00a0painted dog paw prints that went from the new fountain across the sidewalk to a plaque with donor names \u2014 both humans and canines \u2014 to be\u00a0embedded in the ground.\u00a0
\nCouncilwoman Sherri Lightner joined Peter\u2019s widow, Hallie Burch,\u00a0in cutting the bright yellow ribbon wrapped round the green fountain. Barclay couldn\u2019t have been prouder to get the first drink. Border collies, mixed mutts, goldens and pugs all behaved well.\u00a0Some barked. One lifted his leg on a golden tablecloth covering a table with both American and British flags, flowers and doggie treats, and a beautiful bronze plaque.\u00a0Peter Burch would have gotten a good laugh out of that pup\u2019s irreverent performance!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
University City\u2019s Marcy Park mesa was blustery with wind\u00a0on Sept. 21, a Saturday, when the Peter Burch Memorial Dog\u00a0Fountain was dedicated to a University City leader who served as past president of the University City Community Association (UCCA) and as a member of the University City Planning Group.\u00a0 The special fountain that serves able and […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"UC leader memorialized with new fountain for humans and pups alike","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11560,11551,11593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-297070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-news","category-no-images"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}