Ponies a reminder
of homeless man
By Lowell Atchley
New Era
HOPKINSVILLE — Garland Berry perhaps will be remembered best by the attention he gave to a little herd of ponies on a scrubby wooded lot north of Hopkinsville.
Berry died of pneumonia in the county jail, where he had been taken in an attempt to get him to accept some medical attention.
Those who knew him said he was an independent sort, although a bit of
an eccentric.
Like many of Hopkinsville's destitute, Berry didn't have a home, deciding instead, to stay in Tandy's Warehouse, a loose-leaf tobacco floor.
But the most remarkable thing about him, say those who got to know Berry, was his daily three-mile walk from downtown to his pony lot along
U.S. 41.
Once there, the slender old man would feed and tend the animals but sometimes neglected their medical needs. That's how people like Mrs. Louis Deer and Pat Gresham, the county dog warden, said they got to know him.
"It's a shame that this man had to die because it seems he was one of the forgotten few, the ones who slip under the cracks," said Mrs. Deer.
"The last time I saw Mr. Berry was when I gave him a ride home from the ponies one day and it was raining. It was probably three months ago. He was not well," she said.
Berry, 77, was lodged in jail on a simple trespassing charge recently, but only in order to get him treated and either placed in a nursing home or a hospital, according to Jailer Livy Leavell Jr. He was found dead in a cell the next morning.
Mrs. Deer said she and her husband got to know Berry about four years ago when they spotted the ponies and noticed the animals needed attention. They were foundered and their hooves weren't trimmed.
"First of all, the man wouldn't let anyone in there at all. I finally talked him into it. I got on his good side and babied him a little," she said.
Mrs. Deer would have Berry over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, but she didn't this year. She felt he would be mad at her because she took part in the removal of the ponies from the lot, which had been previously sold and would soon be cleared for construction. But Mrs. Deer persuaded the blacksmith who came to take the ponies to keep them on his land.
Mrs. Gresham said Berry's death was a shock to her because she had just talked to him the day before he went to jail.
"He asked how they were, where they were at and he said he was going to have to get more feed out to them.
"He was so sick. I begged him back in November to go to the doctor. He said, 'No, I'm not going to the doctor,"' Mrs. Gresham said.
Despite his withdrawn nature with people, the old man had a way with the ponies. according to the women.
"The first time, we like to have never got those ponies' hooves cut. They fought us and fought us and fought us, but he could just walk up and pet them and they'd do whatever we wanted as long as he was standing there," Mrs. Gresham said.
"I know he was eccentric and he was very proud. Somebody told me he would never take food stamps," Mrs. Deer remarked.
"l guess those ponies just kept him going," she said.
--Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky), Monday, December 28, 1987; Page 21.
of homeless man
By Lowell Atchley
New Era
HOPKINSVILLE — Garland Berry perhaps will be remembered best by the attention he gave to a little herd of ponies on a scrubby wooded lot north of Hopkinsville.
Berry died of pneumonia in the county jail, where he had been taken in an attempt to get him to accept some medical attention.
Those who knew him said he was an independent sort, although a bit of
an eccentric.
Like many of Hopkinsville's destitute, Berry didn't have a home, deciding instead, to stay in Tandy's Warehouse, a loose-leaf tobacco floor.
But the most remarkable thing about him, say those who got to know Berry, was his daily three-mile walk from downtown to his pony lot along
U.S. 41.
Once there, the slender old man would feed and tend the animals but sometimes neglected their medical needs. That's how people like Mrs. Louis Deer and Pat Gresham, the county dog warden, said they got to know him.
"It's a shame that this man had to die because it seems he was one of the forgotten few, the ones who slip under the cracks," said Mrs. Deer.
"The last time I saw Mr. Berry was when I gave him a ride home from the ponies one day and it was raining. It was probably three months ago. He was not well," she said.
Berry, 77, was lodged in jail on a simple trespassing charge recently, but only in order to get him treated and either placed in a nursing home or a hospital, according to Jailer Livy Leavell Jr. He was found dead in a cell the next morning.
Mrs. Deer said she and her husband got to know Berry about four years ago when they spotted the ponies and noticed the animals needed attention. They were foundered and their hooves weren't trimmed.
"First of all, the man wouldn't let anyone in there at all. I finally talked him into it. I got on his good side and babied him a little," she said.
Mrs. Deer would have Berry over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, but she didn't this year. She felt he would be mad at her because she took part in the removal of the ponies from the lot, which had been previously sold and would soon be cleared for construction. But Mrs. Deer persuaded the blacksmith who came to take the ponies to keep them on his land.
Mrs. Gresham said Berry's death was a shock to her because she had just talked to him the day before he went to jail.
"He asked how they were, where they were at and he said he was going to have to get more feed out to them.
"He was so sick. I begged him back in November to go to the doctor. He said, 'No, I'm not going to the doctor,"' Mrs. Gresham said.
Despite his withdrawn nature with people, the old man had a way with the ponies. according to the women.
"The first time, we like to have never got those ponies' hooves cut. They fought us and fought us and fought us, but he could just walk up and pet them and they'd do whatever we wanted as long as he was standing there," Mrs. Gresham said.
"I know he was eccentric and he was very proud. Somebody told me he would never take food stamps," Mrs. Deer remarked.
"l guess those ponies just kept him going," she said.
--Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky), Monday, December 28, 1987; Page 21.
Ponies a reminder
of homeless man
By Lowell Atchley
New Era
HOPKINSVILLE — Garland Berry perhaps will be remembered best by the attention he gave to a little herd of ponies on a scrubby wooded lot north of Hopkinsville.
Berry died of pneumonia in the county jail, where he had been taken in an attempt to get him to accept some medical attention.
Those who knew him said he was an independent sort, although a bit of
an eccentric.
Like many of Hopkinsville's destitute, Berry didn't have a home, deciding instead, to stay in Tandy's Warehouse, a loose-leaf tobacco floor.
But the most remarkable thing about him, say those who got to know Berry, was his daily three-mile walk from downtown to his pony lot along
U.S. 41.
Once there, the slender old man would feed and tend the animals but sometimes neglected their medical needs. That's how people like Mrs. Louis Deer and Pat Gresham, the county dog warden, said they got to know him.
"It's a shame that this man had to die because it seems he was one of the forgotten few, the ones who slip under the cracks," said Mrs. Deer.
"The last time I saw Mr. Berry was when I gave him a ride home from the ponies one day and it was raining. It was probably three months ago. He was not well," she said.
Berry, 77, was lodged in jail on a simple trespassing charge recently, but only in order to get him treated and either placed in a nursing home or a hospital, according to Jailer Livy Leavell Jr. He was found dead in a cell the next morning.
Mrs. Deer said she and her husband got to know Berry about four years ago when they spotted the ponies and noticed the animals needed attention. They were foundered and their hooves weren't trimmed.
"First of all, the man wouldn't let anyone in there at all. I finally talked him into it. I got on his good side and babied him a little," she said.
Mrs. Deer would have Berry over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, but she didn't this year. She felt he would be mad at her because she took part in the removal of the ponies from the lot, which had been previously sold and would soon be cleared for construction. But Mrs. Deer persuaded the blacksmith who came to take the ponies to keep them on his land.
Mrs. Gresham said Berry's death was a shock to her because she had just talked to him the day before he went to jail.
"He asked how they were, where they were at and he said he was going to have to get more feed out to them.
"He was so sick. I begged him back in November to go to the doctor. He said, 'No, I'm not going to the doctor,"' Mrs. Gresham said.
Despite his withdrawn nature with people, the old man had a way with the ponies. according to the women.
"The first time, we like to have never got those ponies' hooves cut. They fought us and fought us and fought us, but he could just walk up and pet them and they'd do whatever we wanted as long as he was standing there," Mrs. Gresham said.
"I know he was eccentric and he was very proud. Somebody told me he would never take food stamps," Mrs. Deer remarked.
"l guess those ponies just kept him going," she said.
--Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky), Monday, December 28, 1987; Page 21.
of homeless man
By Lowell Atchley
New Era
HOPKINSVILLE — Garland Berry perhaps will be remembered best by the attention he gave to a little herd of ponies on a scrubby wooded lot north of Hopkinsville.
Berry died of pneumonia in the county jail, where he had been taken in an attempt to get him to accept some medical attention.
Those who knew him said he was an independent sort, although a bit of
an eccentric.
Like many of Hopkinsville's destitute, Berry didn't have a home, deciding instead, to stay in Tandy's Warehouse, a loose-leaf tobacco floor.
But the most remarkable thing about him, say those who got to know Berry, was his daily three-mile walk from downtown to his pony lot along
U.S. 41.
Once there, the slender old man would feed and tend the animals but sometimes neglected their medical needs. That's how people like Mrs. Louis Deer and Pat Gresham, the county dog warden, said they got to know him.
"It's a shame that this man had to die because it seems he was one of the forgotten few, the ones who slip under the cracks," said Mrs. Deer.
"The last time I saw Mr. Berry was when I gave him a ride home from the ponies one day and it was raining. It was probably three months ago. He was not well," she said.
Berry, 77, was lodged in jail on a simple trespassing charge recently, but only in order to get him treated and either placed in a nursing home or a hospital, according to Jailer Livy Leavell Jr. He was found dead in a cell the next morning.
Mrs. Deer said she and her husband got to know Berry about four years ago when they spotted the ponies and noticed the animals needed attention. They were foundered and their hooves weren't trimmed.
"First of all, the man wouldn't let anyone in there at all. I finally talked him into it. I got on his good side and babied him a little," she said.
Mrs. Deer would have Berry over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, but she didn't this year. She felt he would be mad at her because she took part in the removal of the ponies from the lot, which had been previously sold and would soon be cleared for construction. But Mrs. Deer persuaded the blacksmith who came to take the ponies to keep them on his land.
Mrs. Gresham said Berry's death was a shock to her because she had just talked to him the day before he went to jail.
"He asked how they were, where they were at and he said he was going to have to get more feed out to them.
"He was so sick. I begged him back in November to go to the doctor. He said, 'No, I'm not going to the doctor,"' Mrs. Gresham said.
Despite his withdrawn nature with people, the old man had a way with the ponies. according to the women.
"The first time, we like to have never got those ponies' hooves cut. They fought us and fought us and fought us, but he could just walk up and pet them and they'd do whatever we wanted as long as he was standing there," Mrs. Gresham said.
"I know he was eccentric and he was very proud. Somebody told me he would never take food stamps," Mrs. Deer remarked.
"l guess those ponies just kept him going," she said.
--Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, Kentucky), Monday, December 28, 1987; Page 21.
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