Lorraine C.

Conklin

Lorraine Claude Conklin, 75, of Thomasville, Georgia passed away on October 20, 2023 at Archbold Medical Center. Lorraine was born on March 2, 1948, in Paris, to Marie Madeleine Antoinette Burlot and Claude Andry. After her mother died in 1960, Lorraine and her sister Dominique were raised by their father. Her close friend Françoise Tahon (FanFan) and her parents became Lorraine's second family. Claude filled the household with art and artists, which fed Lorraine's lifelong passion for culture, especially for music, which remained her connection to her father after his premature death when she was 17. Lorraine completed her secondary education at Collège Sévigné in Paris, and developed a talent for illustration and cartoons. She found work as an illustrator, and made drawings for the Pif Gadget magazine in 1968-9. During her childhood, Lorraine was not allowed to have pets, leading her to cultivate her own imaginary menagerie of creatures. She kept mascots of Marsupilami ("Marsupial-friend"), a popular French cartoon character from the 1950s, about her person for her whole life. Lorraine was first able to fulfill her great love for non-imaginary animals during her teenage years, in the companionship of horses. She pursued several equestrian qualifications and became an accomplished dressage rider and trainer in her twenties.

Lorraine met her first husband, Dr. Gerald "Gerry" Kadis of Thomasville, in Paris, and they married in 1971. They moved together to the US, first to Boston, then New York, before relocating to Thailand in 1974, where Dr. Kadis served as a military physician. After their return, Gerry and Lorraine then settled in the Hudson Valley, in Putnam County, NY. Lorraine taught riding in Van Cortland Park, in the Bronx, and began to work at a veterinarian's office, while Gerry completed his medical training in New York City. In addition to acquiring her horse Pegasus in New York, Lorraine began to amass a real-life menagerie of her own, which accompanied her to Thomasville when Gerry was recruited to the hospital there. Lorraine married her second husband, Charles Conklin, of Thomasville, in 1980. She settled on Home Park Farm, where Charles raised cattle, and founded the Androcles Society, later succeeded by the Nepenthic Society, a rehabilitation center and refuge for wild animals. Meanwhile, she taught French at the Brookwood School throughout the 1980s.

After her globe-trotting youth, which she loved to tell stories about, Lorraine became deeply rooted in Thomasville. She became known throughout Thomas County as a relentless advocate of and carer for injured and orphaned wild animals, and proudly never took a day off. Although her operation started out as a small home-grown endeavor, she did not shy away from a challenge, and successfully raised her first bear, Pollux, in 1988. Though Lorraine loved all animals, she held a special affection for bears. As her wildlife refuge expanded over more than three decades, she treated hundreds of animals per year, bringing her into long-term collaborations with the Thomasville Humane Society, Clanton-Malphus-Hodges Veterinary Hospital, and the Tallahassee Junior Museum. When Lorraine was honored as the Thomasville-Thomas County Humanitarian of the Year in 2005, Dr. Clanton presented the award to "the Dr. Doolittle of Thomasville." Her renown as a rehabber extended throughout the Southeastern US, bringing her animals across several state lines. Lorraine was a great advocate of wildlife education and welcomed many visitors and volunteers to help with her "critters." She had an extraordinary gift for communicating with animals, and found the natural world more intuitive than her social one—Lorraine always championed misfits and underdogs. Her tireless work touched countless human as well as animal lives, all of whom will remember and miss her ceaseless determination, love of story-telling, boundless compassion, and independent spirit. Lorraine is survived by Gerry Kadis and Charles Conklin, her sister Dominique Kamara, her godsister Françoise "FanFan" Hagneux, and her nieces Florence Kamara and Claire Sabel.

There will be a celebration of the life of Lorraine Conklin on December 16th at 2:30 pm at All Saints Episcopal Church in Thomasville GA.  Following the service, there will be a reception at the Parrish Hall for fellowship. In lieu of flowers please make a donation in Lorraine's honor to Thomasville Humane (thomasvillehumane.org) or Tallahassee museum(tallahasseemuseum.org)

As a tribute to Lorraine's memory, her niece Claire is collecting Lorraine's animal stories. If you have an animal-related memory you would like to share, please send it by email to Claire.sabel@gmail.com