After years of companionship, SCV Domestic Violence Center officials lost a friend, mascot and local shelter fixture last week when their dog Rosa Parks died Friday. She was 10.

The Santa Clarita Valley Domestic Violence Center received an outpouring of support in the days following a posting about Rosa’s death on Facebook, said Executive Director Linda Davies.

The story of the relationship between DVC clients and Rosa is one of companionship and unflagging support, Davies said.

Linda needed a dog; Rosa needed a home.

Rosa Parks was born in Vermont.

In 2009, at age 3, she was found at the side of the road and taken in by the Lucy McKenzie Rescue, where she waited for a new forever home. It took a year for Linda to come along, taking her home from the shelter and moving to New Hampshire.

Rosa was to work in after school programs because Linda Davies was the director of Family School Connections. Rosa moved with Linda to Santa Clarita in 2011, and within a year, became the therapy dog at the Domestic Violence Center.

Rosa supported both the staff and the clients, greeting them with “a full-body wag,” according to DVC staff and visitors.

She was calm and centered, often thinking she was a member of staff and curling up in the chair behind Linda at the office, or taking a seat in meetings.

With clients, she offered unconditional love, listening to their pain and offering the sort of quiet comfort needed by those who have experienced intense, prolonged trauma brought on by intimate partner violence.

Rosa passed away quietly on Friday, June 24, 2016. Clients and staff said bittersweet goodbyes, remembering how much joy she had brought to them.

As news rolled out, past and present clients and staff reached out to express their condolences, with fond memories and love for this sweet dog.

A memorial will be held at Ventura Beach on July 9.

Please contact the DVC at 661-259-8175 if you would like to attend.

If you wish to remember Rosa in a special way, the center asks for donations to the DVC or providing supplies for our shelter clients.