Female Homeless Veteran Adopted by Community

Middletown animal control officers cared for homeless veteran in life — and death
The Middletown Press
By Kathleen Schassler
POSTED: 06/28/16

Baboolal first met Chaffee about five years ago, when he found her in a city parking lot in a sleeping bag with two small dogs, Mister and Peanut, on a cold and snowy December eve. Chaffee would not part with her beloved dogs so she could not enter the city’s homeless shelter.

MIDDLETOWN
For 26 years, Charlotte Chafee worked as a registered nurse before suffering a debilitating heart attack that led to the loss of her job. Soon after, the U.S. Air Force veteran silently slid into homelessness.

Middletown Animal Control Officers Gail Petras and Sgt. Nick Baboolal went above and beyond with efforts to provide Chaffee with safety and security while she lived, and with a final resting place in the State Veterans’ Cemetery after her untimely death last month.

On Monday, a small group of local veterans and residents joined Petras and two staff members from the Department of Veterans Affairs for a military burial service for Chaffee. The honor detail performed a ceremony that included the folding and presenting of the American flag to the next of kin, a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.”
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