Posted: Sun, 29 May 2011 12:00 AM - 14,780 Readers

By: Anne Szilagyi

“A rescuer” is how Ellen Jefferson, Executive Director of nonprofit Austin Pets Alive, describes Courtney Paige Griffin.

Griffin, a native Austinite and avid animal lover, was the victim of a fatal hit-and-run Friday morning on Exposition Boulevard. The 30-year-old was struck by a black BMW while she walking to her West Austin apartment. The driver, 23-year-old Gabrielle Nestande, is Rep. Wayne Christian's legislative aide in the Texas House.

In the hours following Friday’s accident, Nestande’s identity was heavily publicized in local media because of her political ties at the Texas Capitol. However, it’s fellow Austinites like Jefferson who hope Griffin’s memory will also be heard.

“You know I think it’s really important that when we talk about this tragedy that there is a face with this person who lost their life,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson, a veterinarian, worked periodically with Griffin at the Lake Austin Boulevard Animal Hospital. She said it was Griffin’s nurturing personality that made the clinic a tight-knit community.

“She is full of warmth, she loves the animals so much and she was just really good with people. Bubbly, full-of-life kind of personality,” she said.

Griffin’s family has deep roots in Austin, and her love for the city was expressed by the numbers “512” tattooed on her wrist.

However, it was Griffin’s love for animals that will mark her legacy in Austin. Jefferson said that in addition to working at the animal clinic, Griffin spent her free time volunteering at animal advocacy nonprofits around town.

“She was a rescuer; she would do anything,” Jefferson said. “As a volunteer she would go above and beyond, stay all night with puppies if she needed to.She also was a babysitter for a lot of families in town. She loved children, just gave everything of herself to people and animals."

Jefferson recalled a Dalmatian with a broken leg that Griffin took in several years ago. After paying for the dog’s surgery and for a spay and neuter procedure, she gave the animal away to another family.

Griffin would often become “grief-stricken” when parting with her pets, Jefferson said, but now it’s those who were close to her that are grieving the loss of one of Austin’s own.

Jefferson said she hopes justice is served in the ongoing investigation into the accident, but there will “never be another Courtney.”

Nestande is charged with failure to stop and render aid, a third-degree felony. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison. The California native was released from jail Friday evening on a $35,000 bond.

Funeral services for Courtney Griffin are pending.