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Kendra McNabb was an amazing young woman known for her vibrant spirit, strong determination, and zest for life. She was kind-hearted, free-spirited, and filled with a fiery passion for life, and for her love of animals. She pursued and was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst on May 8, 2020, before her untimely death on June 26, 2020.
Kendra’s smile was infectious and could brighten even the darkest room, and she emanated boundless energy, which she used to spread light and love to her friends, whom she considered family. In grade school and high school, Kendra participated in tae kwon do, winning a bronze medal in sparring, as well as participating in lacrosse, gymnastics, and diving on the swim team. During her high school years, she competed in several Mt Holyoke College student riding competitions in both Hunter and Jumper, winning several place ribbons, and one first-place Championship. In her college years, she started skydiving and could not get enough of it! The feeling she got when free-falling was incredible, and she wanted to share that feeling with anyone she could talk into going up into the blue skies with her and jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. She joined the UMass skydiving team and in 2018, led them to their collegiate competition in Arizona, winning a bronze medal in 4-way. Kendra worked packing parachutes to finance her skydiving, eventually earning her B license, and completing over 150 jumps.
As young as 4 years old, Kendra decided she wanted to care for animals and become a veterinarian. She never lost that passion. Kendra was known by family and friends as the dog, cat, horse, goat, and even pigeon and dragonfly whisperer; because of her unbelievable connection and ability to seemingly “talk” to animals of any kind. A dragonfly she carried home one day stayed with her for hours; she took a pigeon into her hands for an afternoon; she could have the most feral of cats purring in her arms; and could tame and ride the unruliest horses. At the barn where she worked, Kendra was the only person a mare would allow into the stall after birthing a new foal. As a young child, she thought there was no better way to spend an afternoon than observing surgeries at the local MSPCA.
Kendra would never have described herself as a nurse, but nursing was what she did best, with people, and with animals. She worked part-time as a personal care assistant for several elderly women, tending to their needs and comforting them in their later years. In her work as a veterinary technician, she was noted to be especially patient and kind to senior citizens and their senior pets, indulging them and lending a listening ear. Kendra nursed her own dog, Sabrina, through two bouts of cancer, cleaning and packing her wounds, administering meds, and holding her close to the very moment of her death. Kendra worked at the local horse barn, mucking stalls, tending to horses’ needs, caring for a horse’s postoperative drains, recognizing and saving a horse from colic, and most notably, Kendra nursed rescue horses’ wounds, and gently and patiently retrained them so they could be adopted into forever homes.
Kendra believed that if she loved someone enough, human or animal, she could save them. When life taught her differently, as life will, she fiercely moved on to save the next. She never gave up. As Kendra worked her way through school, earning her bachelor’s degree in animal sciences, she talked often of the financial stress of school and the burden of student debt that would follow most animal science students into their future. Knowing that animal sciences is a career of love and not one with lucrative rewards, Kendra would want more than anything, as she always did, to help others in need.
Through the Kendra Elizabeth McNabb Memorial Scholarship Fund, Kendra’s life force will continue reaching out to others, by helping them pursue their own dreams, allowing them to continue their education so they may work with and help animals as she did.
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