Grave of Shep,
Toll Road Dog

Died 1964 - Broomfield, Colorado

When you are driving out from Denver along US 36, the road is wide and crowded with speeding cars. Along both sides are new office buildings and shopping centers. It doesn't look like an area where you'd happen upon the grave of a long-dead beloved dog. Those graves, we find, are in the courthouse squares of towns long passed by. Looking around here, as you zip along, you keep craning your neck, thinking, "Where is this thing going to be?"

And then you see it, a little razor bump in a wide, freshly mown area, sloping between the eastbound highway and the Broomfield onramp. It's not a place designed for cars to stop or for people to linger. But once you park and make your way down the embankment, avoiding scores of prairie dog holes, you arrive, at the grave of Shep. An iron fence, maybe two feet high, surrounds the grave, which is covered with crushed white quartz.

There are two headstones. The larger one says "Shep. 1950-1964. Part Shepherd. Mostly Affection." The smaller one just says "Shep. Our Pal."

But who was Shep, and why hasn't his grave been vaporized in the suburbanization shockwave that rumbled out of Denver?

US 36 used to be a toll road. Back in 1951, when much less was along it, the job of toll collector was a lonely one. So when a black and white mutt pup showed up to keep the collectors company, he quickly won their hearts. Over the years, he became their official mascot. Motorists would leave food and extra change to take care of him.

Finally, old age and arthritis took their own toll. For a time, Shep had to be carried into the booth in the mornings. And in August, 1964, he was put to sleep.

The Colorado DOT decided to officially bury Shep, and local merchants donated the fence and headstones. A portrait of Shep still hangs outside the CDOT commissioner's auditorium in Denver.

Today, a mystery gravekeeper tends the site. When we visited in August 2003, small American flags from The 4th of July were flapping. A wreath from Christmas was still tied to the gate. Press reports says that the grave is also decorated for Dia del Muerte. But since no one knows who takes care of the grave, no one knows how long it will continue.

There will come a day when the grave is just a nuisance -- an unnecessary obstacle for the DOT's grass cutting equipment. Or when a new administration decides to remove Shep's portrait due to budgetary constraints. Until then, though, the dog known as "Part Shepherd, Mostly Affection," will not be forgotten.

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