Lisa Wells heard that tributes to their family’s kitty, who spent most his days lounging along a bike trail in Edwardsville, Illinois, had taken over the 9-foot-tall orange cat sculpture dedicated to him.
As she biked up to a makeshift shrine of flowers, stuffed animals, handmade crafts and photos, she noticed a woman holding a piece of paper in a plastic sleeve.
“Oh, you’re Newt’s family,” she says, recognizing Lisa. She was planning to add her letter to the pile of mementos surrounding the memorial that sprung up after Newt’s death last month. She handed the printed page with her story on it to Lisa.
“Dearest little Newt,
Through losing a parent, Covid, and a cancer diagnosis and treatment, getting out on the trail and visiting with you always made things better. You brought pure and simple joy and made us better humans. Thank you for the impact you made on us as individuals and as a community. The trail will never be the same without you. We love you, little friend. You will live on in the hearts of so many.”
Lisa hugged the stranger and cried.
She and her husband, Chris, a pastor at Metro Community Church, have been stunned by the overwhelming response to their rescue cat’s death. They had no idea the impact their free-spirited cat had on so many others. Thousands of messages flooded social media pages honoring Newt. The kitchen table is covered with photos and notes left by people who encountered a cat on the trail and developed a bond with him. A large glass Mason jar is filled with notes for Newt. Messages scribbled on a small wooden plaque attest to his legacy:
The Wellses received hundreds of condolences for Newt.
“Thank you for expanding my heart. I’ll never forget.”
“Newt lives on as a magical part of my kids’ childhood.”
Unlike other celebrity pets whose owners cultivate large social media followings and sell merch emblazoned with their images, the Wellses never sought fame for their cat, who remained a free spirit until the end.
“We really weren’t his owners,” Chris says. “He was a community cat.” The Wellses definitely didn’t feel like normal cat owners.
“Good kitty. I loved that cat.”
Newt liked to the hang out on the Madison County Transit Trails.
Finding Newt
About seven years ago, the Wellses agreed to get their sons a pet. Lisa had grown up on six acres near Bethalto, Illinois. They had outdoor cats, and she persuaded Chris that it could work in the suburbs, too.
Chris would regularly check with the Metro East Humane Society, and as soon as he discovered kittens available, he called his wife.
“You need to get here as soon as possible,” he said. She and their sons, Zeke and Thad, made it there in 20 minutes. Chris had picked the friendliest ones that were running around and playing.
“I thought they were absolutely adorable,” Zeke, then 4, said. Thad, his older brother, then 12, claimed Newt. Zeke got Fluffy.
Newt lounged on the cat bed with his friend, Fluffy.
In the garage, they made a space with a cat bed, kitty tower, food and water bowls and a litterbox. It was insulated and had a heater for the winter. They created a cat door, so they could easily go into the backyard when it was hot. The boys would play with them in the garage and backyard.
About a year later, the family took the cats camping with them. It was a secluded spot, and Newt began exploring the woods.
“That’s when he got a taste of the outdoors,” Chris says.
‘I like to roam’
When Lisa and Chris would bike to the nearby Nickel Plate Trail, both cats would follow along. Newt would stay outside all day, only returning late at night for food. He never liked being confined in the garage and learned how to unlock the kitty locks fairly quickly. He found an alcove on the trail and would hang out there until people came by.
Then, he would appear and demand attention. Newt would jump on a bike seat, crawl up a friendly visitor’s leg or simply lay in the center of the trail demanding to be petted.
Defying typical cat behavior, he was aggressively friendly. As the pandemic led more people outdoors, his popularity rose. People created at least two social media pages for him — Trail Kitty and Newt for Mayor. A student started a Newt Club in a local elementary school. After Madison County Transit, which owns and maintains the trail, named a public art cat statue “Nelson,” a petition circulated to rename it after Newt. MCT Trails obliged. The Humane Society received at least $4,000 from Newt-related merch.
Newt would catch small lizards or birds and leave them as gifts for his family. But he loved his freedom.
At first, Thad felt a little betrayed that his pet had left home and was no longer just his cat. He developed a special whistle to call Newt home, and it almost always worked.
“We’ll never forget you! Thank you for being the best part of all our adventures.”
A homemade craft gifted to them memorializes Newt in the Wells’ front yard.
The persistent returns
The average lifespan of a domesticated, indoor cat can range from 12 to 18 years. For an outdoor cat, the lifespan is a fraction of that.
The Wellses were aware of the dangers. Newt had some battles in the great outdoors. He came home with a puncture on his thigh once and he lost part of his tail another time. So many human pals on the trail offered him so many treats that it made him sick, requiring vet care.
Lisa got him a special tag on his collar requesting that he not be fed, and his social media fans put the word out on the streets that he was on a special diet.
One of the hundreds of photos strangers have taken of Newt.
But the biggest challenge may have been convincing concerned bystanders that Newt really did want to stay outside. Even though Newt’s collar said, “I like to roam,” about once or twice a week, someone would call asking if they had lost their cat. (Newt was chipped.) Once a man called them when they were out of town and refused to leave the trail until someone came to get him.
They had to call a neighbor to help out.
A handful of times, a person would pick him up and bring him back to the address on his collar.
“We did have some people who thought you really should keep that cat indoors for his safety,” Chris says. But no one was ever rude to them about it. If a commenter posted a critical comment on a social media page, others would jump to the family’s defense.
But most people’s stories are similar to that shared by Lisa Vargovcik, who wrote about her first encounter with Newt on the trail in 2019.
“He was so incredibly sweet and social we thought for sure he was lost,” she says. At that time, the Wellses still had their home number on his collar, so she texted it to make sure their cat was safe.
“They assured me he was not on the trails by accident but rather, for all the attention. The rest is history: after that, we would prioritize trips to ‘his’ trail area hoping to get some more time with him,” she says.
Newt’s missing
A month ago, the Wellses noticed that Newt hadn’t returned home for several days. They went to the trail to search for him and came across several others who were looking for him, also.
A neighbor eventually found him on May 26 in a drainage area. He likely met up with another animal that led to his demise.
“We don’t know his whole story,” Chris says. “We always knew he was taking a chance, but he lived life to the fullest, and how he wanted to live it.”
The news of Newt’s death sent waves of grief through his legion of fans.
“When we heard the news of his passing, my boyfriend and I both were sitting at a restaurant crying,” says Jody Churchill of Fairview Heights, who frequented the trail. You would have thought he was our cat.”
That’s when the outpouring of tributes and condolences started flooding in. People who knew him were deeply connected and needed to express their sense of loss.
Vargovcik, who is a licensed clinical social worker, said Newt’s life and death have been a reminder of the profound positive impact of pets, including Newt’s unconditional love and him feeling like a family member to many.
She experienced the stages of grief herself and highlighted the importance of a grief ritual. Many have visited the memorial created by the statue. An area exercise group did a memorial workout. A local youth sold 3D-printed mini Newts, donating part of the proceeds to the Metro East Humane Society.
Chris, as a pastor, sees their cat as a special gift from God, which he hopes might lead others to God.
“We’re not using it to preach, but it’s on our hearts,” he says.
Cards and gifts keep arriving from people they don’t know, but who knew and loved their cat. Chris says he believes that in such divided times, Newt gave people something to rally around.
The Newt for Mayor page has now become the Newt Memorial Page.
“Few were as loving. Few were as loved.”
A 9-foot public art statue near Newt’s hangout turned into a memorial for the trail cat.