Dr. Penny Elliott, DVM


When Penny was born, her family was living on Fort Ord in Monterrey, so she was truly a native Californian.  When she was 5 months old her family boarded the SS Southern Cross in Baltimore bound for Rio where they lived for the next 3 years.  Her days there were filled with trips to Ipanema beach to play in the sand with her sister Laurie while Bill and Judy worked hard at school.  This may be why they were fondly referred to as “The Princess Squad”!

Over the next 8 years the family moved 4 more times, settling in New Hampshire where Penny completed high school.  All that moving around instilled in her a love of traveling and for the next 5 years she did just that.  First she and her sister Judy traveled to Israel where she worked on an archeological dig on a Kibbutz. Her early love of animals was apparent when she also lobbied hard to work with the Arabian horses there, and later at Arundel Castle in England where she had a job exercising the Dutchess’s  horses. 

The following year Penny had some adventures at sea with her brother Bill which included delivering a fishing trawler from the Mediterranean to Curacao.  One of the highlights from that trip was learning celestial navigation from Bill.  From there she traveled to Venezuela where she realized her dream was to become a veterinarian, so she turned down a rainforest adventure to return to the US to begin the academic career necessary to fulfill her dream.
After graduating from UC Davis, Penny moved to Sebastopol where she started her career at an emergency animal hospital.  It was in Sebastopol that she met Perry, the love of her life and soul mate.  They soon bought the house on Mark West Springs Rd. and were married there later that year on June 10, 1989.  

For the next 31 years, Penny and Perry found plenty of time away from their work at home to have many adventures all over the world.  Their first focus was on mountain biking and they rode hard…from the steep terrain of the Sierras to the deserts of the Southwest.  Penny also took it to the next level and had a very successful career as a mountain bike racer.  

Next was diving…they got certified and immediately flew to Fiji where Penny fell in love with the world under the sea.  They spent the next years diving in a wide variety of places but her favorite became Bonaire.  It was there that she had an experience with dolphins that changed her life.  A huge pod surrounded their boat, so Penny reached out over the water and a dolphin jumped up and kissed her hand while gazing into her eyes.  She never forgot that encounter and wore a silver dolphin around her neck from then on.

Family was always very important to Penny and she embraced being a wife, aunt, sister, cousin, and daughter with open arms and a loving heart.  Family reunions and parties at the beautiful house Perry built for her brought her boundless joy.  
Penny taught us all by example how to participate in life to the fullest because she never did anything halfway.  Whether it was practicing yoga, caring for animals, being a loving wife, playing hard or loving us all fiercely, her strength and fearless embracing of everything life presented to her was an inspiration. She is loved by all she touched.   

If you wish to make a donation in Penny’s name the family suggests these non-profits who were dear to Penny’s heart. 

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