Growing up on a ranch near Healdsburg, Kate MacMurray remembers how she would convince her famous father to take in stray animals, especially dogs.
The key to getting her dad, actor Fred MacMurray, to accept a new pet, was getting him to name it.
"Mom and I would never name strays until Dad got into the picture," she said.
"He would say &‘that dog doesn't have a name. Have you given it thought?'"
"We'd say, &‘maybe you'd like to give it thought.' The name would come and that dog was in like Flynn," she said with a laugh.
Kate MacMurray still lives on a portion of the old MacMurray ranch off Westside Road, a short distance from the site of a proposed new Healdsburg Animal Shelter.
That and her enduring love for animals makes her a fitting choice to lead a fund-raising campaign for the state-of-the art shelter.
The shelter's board of directors earlier this year announced plans to build the facility across from their antiquated, 50-year-old shelter, next to the the city corporation yard.
More than three-quarters of the money, or $3.2 million, has been donated for the project. It came from the estate of the late vintner Rodney Strong and his wife Charlotte, animal lovers who willed the money for a new shelter.
But shelter directors want to raise an additional $1 million as part of a "Sustainability Campaign" to finish the project and ensure it has a healthy operational budget.
"It's a good cause," said MacMurray. "In today's economic times, sometimes animals get short shrift. We have to keep their needs ever present."
"She's a huge incredible advocate for animals," said shelter President Kathleen McCaffrey. "She's helping us with the donors' list, signing all the letters."
A benefit was held last year for shelter at the MacMurray Ranch, which the Hollywood actor — star of classic films like "Double Indemnity" and popular TV fare like "My Three Sons," — bought in the early 1940s.
Kate, her sister and mother, lived on the ranch where they adopted plenty of animals.
"My sister and I found ducks and brought them home to the family," she said. "They were so happy. We had little mallard ducks in the pool."
At one time, the MacMurrays had five dogs, including a beautiful, unclaimed border collie they found wandering along Westside Road. And there were plenty of cats and kittens that seemed to find their way to the ranch to live in the barn and behind hay bales.
"We often would find nests of kitties and would find homes for them," Kate said.
Over the years, she has called upon the dog obedience trainer at the Healdsburg animal shelter, an organization she said has done well, considering its small size and challenging location.
The shelter has seen rapid turnover of its executive directors in recent years, including one that lasted only four months before being let go this summer.
McCaffrey said there are no plans at this point to hire a new executive director. The shelter is being managed by Animal Control Officer Ryan Pelleriti.
In the meantime, the 3.7 acres at 555 Westside Road that the City of Healdsburg helped buy for the organization has been cleared and infrastructure installed, including roads and utilities.
The intent is to have a 6,500-square-foot home for the animals finished by next summer.
While the shelter construction cost is $1.9 million, McCaffrey said there are many other things that push the total to $4.2 million, including site development, permits and fees for attorneys, architects and landscape design.
Included in that larger figure is $1 million for a perpetual reserve fund to pay for insurance and other operating expenses.
The new shelter will not only be low-energy use and a "green" building, but is designed to make it easy for people to interact with the animals they are considering adopting.
It also will accommodate twice as many animals as the 400 to 500 a year handled in the current structure.
That extra room will come in handy. The shelter recently changed its policy to take in strays from the surrounding countryside and not just within Healdsburg city limits.
That means residents of Dry Creek and Alexander valleys, as well as Eastside and Westside roads, can take strays to the Healdsburg shelter, instead of having to take them to the Sonoma County animal shelter near Santa Rosa.
The Healdsburg shelter also will promote volunteerism and responsible pet ownership. MacMurray will be giving a brief talk to that effect on Sunday afternoon along with animal control officer Pelleriti.
She kicks off the communty fundraising campaign at a 1:30 p.m. film screening at the Raven Theater, 115 North St. in Healdsburg.
The film is "Babe," featuring a talking pig.
Tickets will be sold at the door beginning at 12:30 p.m. and are $10 per adult and $5 per child.
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