Remembering Charity Rennie

Charity was born in Glasgow and raised in Yorkshire in the north of England and went, by her own account, “to a very hoity-toity girls’ school.” But she couldn’t wait to get to London, where she studied drama and acted in London’s West End theater district. She was clever, delightfully eccentric, and very funny. Often, she would lean on her classical drama training and experience in English repertory theater and as a radio actor on popular British shows to get the most out of jokes and stories.

She used her acting skills and voice training to coach others at Best Friends in public speaking and voice projection. Those skills made her a natural to step into a development role, calling and engaging with thousands of donors, working on the phone for hours each day.

Charity was exceptionally empathic and would sometimes surprise people with an off-the-cuff "psychic" reading, which was usually spot-on.

She was an outgoing bright light, and she was really a lot of fun.

In the earliest days of Best Friends, Charity wore many hats as was the rule in those days. She managed the off-site adoption of animals from the Sanctuary, primarily cats, and also did fundraising and donor cultivation. She stepped in to help in emergencies, such as tending cats during an enormous rescue effort.

Cheerful and gregarious, she might suddenly say something either mysterious, profoundly loving, or even a little jarring that would really stick with you. She was a presence at Best Friends and is profoundly missed.

Charity is survived by her son, Judah Battista.