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Minnesota animal shelter celebrates volunteer’s 100th birthday

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — It was only fitting that a Minnesota woman who has volunteered for 32 years at an animal shelter would celebrate her 100th birthday with her furry friends.

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Kittens and cupcakes were the order of the day Tuesday as Charlotte Denk Beegle celebrated her 100th birthday at the Animal Humane Society’s shelter in Golden Valley, KARE-TV reported.

Staff members at the shelter said Beegle, from St. Louis Park, is “a special lady” who has been a volunteer since 1988, the television station reported.

“Animals are a very important part of my life,” Beegle told KMSP. “And now I have a cat that I talk to and he doesn’t tell anyone what I say. Better than some friends, right?”

Beegle has logged more than 5,000 volunteer hours, the television station reported.

She came to the center after the death of her husband, KARE reported. Harry Jack Beegle, 68, died of a heart attack in Waconia on Sept. 5, 1987, the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis reported.

Charlotte Beegle, born June 8, 1921, in New Jersey, the daughter of a police officer in Union Township. She married her husband in 1943, according to New Jersey online marriage records. They met while working at the Prudential Insurance Company, according to Harry Beegle’s obituary.

The couple moved to the Twin Cities area in 1954, according to Harry Beegle’s obituary in the Star-Tribune. Harry Beegle was an insurance underwriter and the mayor of Morningside, in 1964-65.

Since her husband’s death, Charlotte Beegle has worked as a volunteer at the animal shelter.

Not only has Charlotte Beegle helped animals get adopted from the shelter, but she also has adopted a cat, KARE reported. Her current pet is a cat named Eddie.

Staff members said Beegle has no plans to stop volunteering.

“This was my salvation, coming here,” Beegle told KMSP.