06/22/2026
As many of you know, our beloved six-year-old gallery dog, Thatcher, died in a tragic manner this week after going on a hike with his dog walker. We’re working through the complexities of what happened during the 24-hour search and how this unimaginable experience ended, but we wanted to share a special gallery tribute for our sweet boy.
I’ve never known life at The Willard Gallery without Thatcher. He’d been in our family for less than a year when we started this business. We joked that he was my co-worker because he was by my side for so much of the day. He accompanied me to UPS to ship paintings, was underfoot for every thank you note or newsletter I wrote, and was always in the same room when I was photographing art for the website. I made him sit for photos alongside stacks of boxes waiting to be shipped, with tote bags placed around his neck, in front of favorite paintings, and outside our cottage gallery, framed just so, in every season. A running joke between us was how many paintings he helped sell simply by befriending people in our neighborhood who then visited the gallery and ended up purchasing art. He was the star of our holiday cards, featured in the title image of a magazine profile, and even inspired a couple of paintings by gallery artists.
Thatcher was the physical embodiment of love and joy and happiness. His life was cut tragically short, and our own lives have been forever changed. He will always be our gallery dog, and we’re so thankful he played such a big role in the first five years of this business. Thank you for sharing in our love for him.
