Gordy the groundhog has been a favorite zoo ambassador since 2018. Milwaukee will miss him.

I’ve been covering stories about the Milwaukee County Zoo for the last several years, and when I heard Gordy the groundhog died, I felt legitimately devastated.

Working from home when I found out, I immediately started writing the story.

My younger daughter, who wasn’t at school that day, came downstairs. When she asked me what I was doing, I said, “Gordy died!” “What?” she exclaimed. “No!”

A few minutes later, my older daughter texted to say she had arrived at school. When I didn’t answer right away, she messaged me again. “Sorry,” I texted. “I’m working on a story. Gordy died!” She immediately responded, “Whaaaat??? What happened?”

Then my mom texted me; “Gordy died?”

And my husband came home from getting his lunch and I told him, “Gordy died!”

Gordy is a household name in my family; I didn’t have to explain to anyone who he is.

Gordy was the star of the show every Groundhog Day

Of course Gordy was the star of the show in Milwaukee every Feb. 2. He was the weather predictor every year, telling us whether there would be six more weeks of winter or an early spring. As a reporter who covers the zoo, at the end of January I would start getting questions from editors, producers and photographers in the newsroom.

“Are you writing about Gordy this year?”

“When is the Gordy ceremony?”

“What time should we be at the zoo to photograph Gordy?”

This Feb. 2, I woke up a bit after 6 a.m. to a message from an editor: “Did Gordy make his prediction yet?”

I assured him that Gordy’s ceremony didn’t start till 9 that morning. Punxsutawney Phil had already made his prediction, but Gordy was smarter than that, preferring to sleep in, especially since he was technically supposed to be hibernating.

Gordy was well-known in the newsroom.

Gordy had so many fans

I met Gordy just a few weeks after he first arrived from his birthplace in Indiana when he was a skinny little pup. The zoo’s staff took me on a tour for a story I was working on about baby animals. Gordy was the highlight of the day; recently arrived, he had free rein of the animal encounters building at the family farm, scurrying along behind us and exploring everything.

I had brought my daughters along to give me a kid's-eye point of view on what was interesting to write about. That’s one reason Gordy is special in my family; we were together when we met him and we were all enchanted by his cuteness from the very beginning.

That zoo trip was also special to us because it was right after I had gone back to work full-time after being mostly a stay-at-home mom for a decade. It was an adjustment for my family, especially for me because I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with my kids as I wanted to. Seeing Gordy and the baby animals at the zoo with my kids was an early lesson that I would be able to balance my work and my family. And it was an early lesson to my kids that their mom got to do cool things at her job.

In the zoo’s announcement about Gordy’s death, they noted that all animal deaths are difficult for the people who work there, but this one hit especially hard because of how closely they worked with the groundhog, and how comfortable he became with them.  

Of course, the people who knew Gordy the best are the ones who are most affected by his death. But Gordy made an impression on all of us Milwaukeeans who have been fans from afar.

Every year, the Facebook stream of Gordy’s Groundhog Day prediction was full of comments from teachers, parents and schoolchildren who were excited to watch Gordy see his shadow. During this year’s Groundhog Day stream, one person said “Our first grade class loved watching Gordy! Enjoy the peanuts and thanks for all the fun facts about Gordy and Groundhog Day!” Other fans said Gordy is their favorite, a “handsome little guy.” One person just wrote, “I love Gordy!”

The zoo’s announcement of Gordy’s death is flooded with its own share of comments from sad Milwaukeeans. One called out his “camera star personality.” A teacher is sad because of how much their students enjoyed seeing Gordy every year. Another said they enjoyed watching him eat “his treats with a lot of relish.” One commenter called him “a great animal ambassador who always gave everyone a smile.” Others remarked on his fun personality and thanked him for all his years of forecasting. And many commenters shared the sentiments of the person who called him “a cute little fellow.”

Although Gordy won't be around for future Groundhog Day predictions, he will linger in the memories of many Milwaukee schoolchildren who learned facts about groundhogs, played groundhog BINGO and squealed, "Gordy!" when they saw him emerge from his little house every Feb. 2.

More:Milwaukee County Zoo's Gordy the Groundhog died on March 3

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