Question of the Week

Michael Canalizo

Palm Harbor, FL

Everything Gene wrote in last week's editorial represented how many of us who knew and loved Carol for almost all the same reasons. My family shared a closeness with the entire Reisman family that paralleled that of blood relations. Over 50 years of friendship in dogs and in life in general. I had a slightly different relationship with Carol, most that will remain "just between us." Carol was absolutely one who could keep a secret! I understood her independence, conviction and loyalty to our breed (Afghan Hounds). We shared many of the same mentors in the breed. Carol might have outwardly showed off her charm with her ever-present "Cheshire Grin"...but I knew how the wheels were turning behind that cuteness. We could always bounce something off one another with respect of not worrying who was right or who was wrong. I will miss those intense discussions as much as the fun times. 

 

David Frei

Seattle, WA

In the early 2000s I had just moved to NYC to work for the AKC and Westminster. Carol had just been admitted to the hospital I was visiting on the Upper East Side, so I got the chance to see her every week. It was grim, they told me, but she battled her way back, her courage and the support of her family and friends making it all happen. She got a new “second life” and lived it out beautifully for the next 20+ years, blessing us with her presence, her wit and wisdom, and her devotion to her friends, our dogs, and our great sport. Thanks Fran and Honi and Jim for sharing her with us, we are blessed to have had her for both of those lives. Rest in peace, Carol. 

 

Eugene Blake and Julie L. Mueller

Tulsa, OK

When we think of Carol, aside from her great contributions to the sport, our thoughts first go to her family. The first few sentences of a conversation would always include the names of her sisters, Fran and Honi, and the same being true for them. Such a joy to witness the love they have for each other. We feel blessed to be a part of that love through friendship and our sport. God bless the Reisman family, with our most heartfelt love and respect.  

 

Iva Kimmelman 

Stow, MA

My most vivid memories are of Carol at dinner the hours prior to the groups starting at the Garden.

This was part of the yearly experience that began in 1987.

Walking to the restaurant with her, sometimes Fran and or Honey, Bob and Joan Goldstein, Karen and Asa Mays and a few others invited to join. 

We laughed and laughed about everything on the way to the place and back. Sometimes if the food was too good and wine too plentiful, some took a cab back. 

I admired the Reisman sisters as breeders of beautiful afghans, inspired by the Grandeurs of Sunny Shay.

Carol was always so funny about everything. Cracking jokes about situations that normally rattle a person.

She was one of a kind. 

I saw her last a few years ago at the Afghan National in Rhode Island.

I was part of the audience for judges Ed. She sat with me for a long time as we watched and discussed the dogs. She had an eye like few others. I still have that AKC mentorship form she signed on my behalf, as she encouraged me to apply for her breed. I never have.

Her passing certainly leaves a huge empty space in the hearts of so many who loved and admired her. I am just one. 

 

Barbara Miller

Old Brookville, NY

There are too many memories all tucked away in my heart suffice to say.  The 3 Reismans, Carol, Honi and Fran lived with me during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.  Friends before, seriously bonded during and at this point I consider myself fortunate to have the “girls” in my life. Carol was able to evaluate my litters of Norfolk spot on; from Hound to Terrier, she got it.  There’s a hole in my heart that will take a long time to repair if it ever does. To Honi, Fran, Jimmy, and the girls’ nephew Evan, you had the privilege of being related to an outstanding woman; one who did it her way. 

 

Cathy and Bill Daugherty

Hot Springs, AR

She was fabulous!!!!!!!

 

Leslie Simis

Temple City, CA

I was so saddened to hear of the loss of this wonderful woman. I first met Carol in the early seventies, and was immediately in awe of her positive spirit and the ability to pass it on. She was not only knowledgeable, but she had an amazing connection to those of us who wanted to learn and understand our sport. Incredibly intelligent and wickedly funny, she always made me smile with her many anecdotes. I adored her and all of the Reisman girls, and I feel so very honored and grateful for their presence in my life. Godspeed Carol, I shall miss you forever. 

 

Paul Lepiane,

Ojai, California 

I know the exact date and place I first met Carol Reisman. It was the Saturday before Westminster, February 8, 1975 at the Statler Hilton Hotel (previously The Hotel Pennsylvania and later The New York Penta) across the street from Madison Square Garden. It was at the 37th National Specialty of the Afghan Hound Club of America. The specialty was a one-day show with a limited entry of 300 in conformation. There was no sweepstakes, no obedience, no agility, no rally, no seminars, no judges education and no lure coursing. Three judges, 300 dogs, conformation only, 1 day… that was the National in those days.

I had started my first magazine, The Afghan Hound Review, only a few months earlier in late 1974, and this was my first trip east to meet Afghan Hound fanciers. I met Carol briefly, but it was such a crazy, jam-packed-full day that there wasn’t much time for socializing with so my new people and dogs filling my brain. (It’s crazy to realize now that I was only 21 and Carol only 28 back then! Children!) However, that day I also met Sunny Shay of Grandeur Afghans which was the first step in arranging an interview with her when she came to California later that year to judge a big specialty match.

When I was preparing that interview to be published in the September-October 1975 issue of the magazine, Carol was my go-to person for help in getting everything I needed from Sunny: an approved copy of the interview text, help in filling in some of the blanks, and sending me an assortment of Grandeur photos from 1940 up to the present time. 

Carol was passionate about Afghan Hounds, Sunny Shay and her dogs, and the sport in general… and she didn’t hide her passion under a bushel! But it was a sincere, educated passion that made for fascinating conversations. Here’s an example…

In the July-August 1975 issue I printed an interview with all-rounders and Afghan breeder-judges Ned and Sue Kauffman (Holly Hill Afghans). In that interview Sue stated what a landmark dog Ch. Shirkhan of Granduer was (BIS Westminster KC 1957) as a great dog and sire who moved the breed forward, and that “there hasn't been a dog yet to replace Shirkhan.” BUT… then she says, “Shirkhan was an extremely shy dog but he had total confidence in Sunny. He would do anything for Sunny, but he was basically very shy. He was sweet shy though, not a fear biter. He needed confidence.”

Well!!! The floodgates opened with “letters to the editor” (remember, there was no internet then) pouring forth defending Shirkhan's unimpeachable temperament. One of the the most passionate (and witty and funny) came from Carol, and here it is: 
 

Dear Paul,

What I am about to write I would like printed in The AHR.

In the July-August issue of The AHR there was an interview with Ned and Sue Kauffman. It should have read, “AHR interviews Sue Kauffman with footnotes and directives by Ned Kauffman.” Perhaps Ned should be interviewed by himself. Let’s hear what his feelings about and wants in our breed are. One must admit that Sue speaks her mind and for that I must afford her a certain amount of respect, but where was any concrete evidence behind her statement about Shirkhan?

How many of you remember Shirkhan? I mean the physical being of Shirkhan, shining in the show ring wearing Sunny as a jewel in his crown? I can’t help but feel sorry for any novice who took Sue’s description of Shirkhan seriously – for she is dead wrong about this King of Afghans. If Sue had a temperament problem with her dogs, better she should find another dog to blame or find an outside reason for this problem. There wasn’t a shy fiber in Shirkhan’s makeup, in the ring, at a show, on the road, at home or, most important, in his progeny. Aside from the obvious physical qualities bestowed on his offspring, Shirkhan also added this uncanny intelligence for which he was known. I cannot even say that Shirkhan was an aggressive dog. There were always new older dogs coming into Grandeur Kennels and Shirkhan would live with them. I don’t remember Shirkhan ever being crated or stashed in a bedroom because another male was walking through the front door. I must add here that my Grandeur, but heavy Turkuman line, dogs would never even let another male get near my house without a tremendous argument.

There are people around that remember Shirkhan’s outgoing, sweet personality. He was all “giving” Afghan for Sunny and most everybody else. Alot of people handled this dog. Try that with a shy dog! Frank Sabella states in his interview in The AHR that Shirkhan was, “Like having a feather on the end of the lead. No dog that I ever handled felt like that.”

I never saw Shirkhan pull away from a stranger. There were no strangers in Shirkhan’s life. He knew everyone loved him, everyone was family.

Even in those last few unforgettable weeks of his life, when he couldn’t get up without help, which has to be trying for any animal, he never displayed any distrust or fear of strangers entering his domain. I don’t think Shirkhan believed he was going to die, and he never once wanted Sunny to know.

Many friends in the breed feel that Sue misused the word shy and meant to say aloof. Well, I’m sure Sue realizes that the two states of mind couldn’t be further apart.

I know that her description of Shirkhan is not true, and I will stand behind him, the greatest Afghan of all times: Ch. Shirkhan of Grandeur.
 

Carol Reisman, Afghans of Kai, New York

 

Following that first meeting in 1975, Carol and her siblings Fran, Honi and Jimmy really did become like family to me. One of my problems with the USA being so geographically vast is that it’s hard to see our distant friends who often live thousands of miles away. But even though there always was this huge physical distance between us, I’ve felt close to Carol and family for over 50 years.