Kit Studer
How kind he was to me when I was a little girl
My mother owned a horse farm and knew Earvin well as a horse trader and through association with the Jamestown Livestock auction. He would stop often at our farm with horses in his truck that he thought she might want; and she did buy many horses from or through him. He was always so nice to me - a silly 5 to 9 year old girl. He would even bring ponies for me to ride and try out. One day Earv brought a tiny white baby billy goat and gave it to me as a present. I'm not sure my mother was happy about that. But she built it a pen under the sink in our kitchen, because he needed to be bottle fed every few hours. and he lived in our kitchen until he was months older and able to be moved to the barn. I LOVED THAT BABY GOAT. Sure, as he grew up he became a stinky, kind of mean, billy goat. But as a baby I loved him. He was on our farm, causing trouble for years. Then he wasn't. Whenever I asked my mother where he went she would just say I don't know. I'm sure telling me he went to live on a farm wouldn't have made much sense. I just know that my mom was devastated when she learned of Earv's accident and death, and when she told 9 year old me I was crushed. I believe Earv was my first experience of losing anyone to death.
