The Nine Lives of an Orange Tabby, an Orange County History for Children was created by Laura Thompson when she was Executive Director of the Arts Center in Orange and an OCHS Board member.
According to Carol Couch, back in 2007, Thompson “created a local historical coloring book that could be used in schools.
The concept was, as everyone knows, that cats have nine lives. The main character in the coloring book is a cat named ‘Purr,’ dreaming of her nine different
lives while living at the Orange County Animal Shelter.”
Couch continues the story by saying, Thompson “used her contacts at the Historical Society to make sure the history was accurate and inclusive and her contacts at the Arts Center for the artwork.”
The original print run was 1,000 copies.
Since then, the coloring book spawned an Orange County history poster contest. Laura
Thompson died several years ago, but now the Orange Tabby named “Purr” lives on,
thanks to an OCHS member who paid for the 1,500-copy reprint. That should keep
Orange County fourth graders well supplied with coloring books for several years.