Author Terhune Albert Payson

rhune was married twice. His first wife, Lorraine Bryson Terhune, died at the age of 23 four days after giving birth to Lorraine Virginia Terhune Stevens (1898-1956) and nine months into the marriage. He later remarried to Anice Terhune who was "The Mistress" in his novels, but they never had children. All of his family, including his parents and Terhune himself, are buried at the Pompton Reformed Church in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. His estate, Sunnybank, in Wayne, New Jersey is currently maintained as Terhune-Sunnybank Park. It is open to the public and visitors can visit the graves of many of the dogs mentioned in Terhune's works and view a collection of Terhune's book and dog awards at the Van Riper-Hopper Historic House Museum. Historical and family items from the Terhune home, "The Place," can be found at the Pompton Lakes Historical Museum. According to Time's obiturary on Terhune, his Sunnybank Kennels where he bred and raised rough collies were "the most famed collie kennels" at the time of his death.[2] Albert Payson Terhune first published short stories about his collie Lad, titled Lad Stories, in various general-interest magazines, including Red Book, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, Hartford Courant, and the Atlantic Monthly.[3][4] The first of his novels about his dogs, Lad: A Dog, collected a dozen stories of his collie Lad in novel form. Lad was followed by over a thirty additional dog-focused novels, including two additional books about Lad. Published in 1919, the novel was a best seller in both the adult and young adult markets and has been reprinted over 80 times. It was adapted into a feature film in 1962.[5]