by Julie Wenger Watson
Erin Chappel’s resume is impressive. A graduate of Florida’s top-rated Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Chappel has built a career as a pilot that includes everything from flight instruction and organ transportation to corporate and commuter flying. She’s also the author of two novels for young adults. While those accomplishments alone add up to a remarkable life, Chappel has also spent the last decade quietly rescuing cats and bringing them into her midtown Tulsa home.
It all started with Morris, an orange tabby cat who was loitering around a truck stop in Chandler where Chappel and her husband had stopped for gas on their way home from a concert. Although the Chappels, who had never owned a cat, and the affectionate feline connected immediately, Morris remained behind once the tank was full.
“The next morning I woke up, and all I could think about was the cat,” says Chappel.
When the couple returned to the truck stop early the next evening, they searched but couldn’t find Morris. Just as they were ready to leave, he appeared.
“I turned around, and he came out of the bushes. He was just standing there, and he jumped right up on my lap,” she recalls.
After confirming with the gas attendants that Morris had no permanent home, Chappel brought him back to hers, where he lived a long and happy life. Although Morris passed away last year, he paved the way for all of the cats that were to follow.
“We just started being open to these cats,” says Chappel. “It was almost like somebody turned on a light saying, ‘Cats are welcome here.’”
Creamy appeared next but chose to remain an outdoor cat. Periscope, or “Perry,” who showed up with a broken tail, anorexic and full of fleas, soon became part of the home team. He’s now the senior cat but not the latest addition.
Sandy Beach followed. When a trip to the vet confirmed that Sandy had tested positive for the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), Chappel wasn’t deterred. She just keeps him separate from the rest of the animals to avoid transmitting the disease.
Loki joined the family after a neighbor experiencing a change in circumstances asked Chappel to give him a home. After Loki, 2-month-old Itty Bitty showed up in Chappel’s yard.
To date, Thor is the latest addition to the indoor cats. When Thor developed sores on his ears, a vet determined he had allergies and was particularly sensitive to mosquito bites, making him better suited to living inside, so he became part of Chappel’s cat clan.
Finally, there is Wink, a skittish cat who currently lives outdoors. “We visit at arm’s length,” says Chappel. “I’ve been working on him. We sit and we talk and he listens.”
Chappel says all of the cats are a blessing. Rather than seeing their care as a lot of extra work, she sees it as a problem to be solved or a challenge to be met. It parallels the lessons she learned as a pilot.
“This is how I approach things, and it’s probably a function of who I am. When I flew corporate jets, it was never a question of, ‘Are we going to go?’ It’s ‘How are we going to go,’” she says.
“I became very accustomed to ‘A life is endless possibilities. Let’s figure something out,’” she says. “For me, having the cats is just an extension of that.”
“It’s just so much joy. They elevate me. It’s like give a gift and get a gift,” she says. “I don’t mind working with them through their trauma. I see their trauma; I see their wounds, and I’m like, ‘All right, so how are we going to work through this?’”
For more on Chappel, visit facebook.com/authorelchappel.
