Off leash: Loss reverberates through community

Ben Swan | The New Mexican

7/4/2009 - 7/5/09

Gabrielle Amster has a soft spot for pit bulls.

The development director for the Santa Fe Animal Shelter & Humane Society will often point out new arrivals of the breed, commenting on their condition or taking some home to foster.

But recently Amster's family has fallen in love with a foster Chihuahua, said Mary Martin, the shelter's executive director. Her two boys, Julian and Adrian Martinez, would fight over who could sleep with cuddly pup.

Like their mother, the boys cared deeply for the plight of animals, often putting in their time at the shelter. "Julian was a familiar face," said Bill Hutchison, the shelter's communications manager. "He loved animals. We're going to miss seeing his kind face around here very much."

A memorial service for Julian Martinez, 16, who died along with three other teens in a collision June 28, will be held at
4 p.m. today at Warehouse 21, 1614 Paseo de Peralta. The shelter will close at 3 p.m. today to give employees and volunteers a chance to attend the service.

A Monte del Sol Charter School student, Julian loved to garden, write and play guitar, according to his obituary. "Above all he was blessed with a strong character and fine character capable of extraordinary love. Julian never experienced a single moment of prejudice; he loved bringing people of all kinds together. He packed hours of fun and laughter into every minute of his life, and did so right up until his last breath."

Girls often surrounded the popular teen, so it was only natural that he would be the only boy in a car filled with girls, Martin said Amster told her. Only the driver of the vehicle, Avree Koffman, survived. Other victims included Rose Simmons, Kate Klein and Alyssa Trouw.

It's been a tough week at the shelter, Hutchison said, grief adding heaviness to the most common of duties. But the sense that the shelter is family has helped many pull through.

Martin, who only recently joined the shelter earlier this year, said she's been impressed by the love and respect the community has shown to all the victims and their families.

"Those were four beautiful people, whose lives touched so many," she said. "The community has really rallied."

That shows in an outpouring of support for Amster and her family, Martin said, with many cards, letters and kind words. Others have dropped off food and some have set up private collections for the family.

Alix Novack, who's rescued dozens of animals throughout the state, considers Amster a champion of animals, but also a devoted mother.

"She is one of kind," Novack wrote in an e-mail. "Her radius of kindness is very wide-reaching in this community."

The shelter has set up an account under Julian Martinez's name at New Mexico Bank & Trust for contributions.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the shelter "in honor of Julian's love of all creatures," or to Monte del Sol's garden program, "where he spent many happy moments."