Seventeen years later, Grayslake animal shelter receives donation

One of Patricia Dwyer's final wishes before she died in 2000 was for the proceeds of a life insurance policy to be donated to Save-A-Pet, the no-kill animal shelter in Grayslake.

Seventeen years after her death, that wish finally came true.

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs and state Rep. Sam Yingling gave Save-A-Pet the $28,688 they were owed Tuesday after finally wresting the money from the Minnesota-based insurance company who held the policy.

David Diaz, development manager at Save-A-Pet, said they are grateful Frerichs and Yingling stepped in to help them get hold of the Poplar Grove woman's donation. Diaz said shelter staff today doesn't know much about Dwyer, a former volunteer who was 56 when she died, or how she came to bequeath money to Save-A-Pet.

"She wasn't a principal volunteer, she wasn't in the spotlight," Diaz said. "But whether they're anonymous or a person we know, doing what she did is one of the highest levels of giving. They're leaving us their worldly possessions, one of the most important things we can receive."

The shelter was made aware of Dwyer's gift in 2014 after Frerichs' office conducted a life insurance audit and found the money had not yet been claimed.

"This is a perfect example of why audits of life insurance companies are necessary," Frerichs said. "We must continue to hold bad actors accountable and help ensure the wishes of the deceased are fulfilled."

Diaz said when he started working at Save-A-Pet in 2015, obtaining Dwyer's donation became one of his responsibilities. The insurance company told Diaz he first needed Dwyer's death certificate, but he faced roadblocks obtaining it.

"I wasn't getting any traction until (Frerichs' office) stepped in," he said.

Yingling said his and Frerichs's offices worked for months trying to get a copy of Dwyer's certificate.

"There was some interstate dealings with Minnesota," Yingling said. "It got caught up in some governmental bureaucracy."

In August, Frerichs's office reached out to Boone County Clerk Julie Stapler to ask if her office had a copy of the Poplar Grove woman's death certificate. Luckily they did, clearing the way for the donation to finally arrive.

Diaz said the $28,688 will help animals in crisis at the shelter, which relies entirely on donations to fund operations.

"We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on medical expenses here," Diaz said. "When an animal is brought in that's been hit by a car and needs a pin in its hip, we don't euthanize that animal unlike what almost everyone else would do, we help that animal."