She was a cherished sister, aunt, and friend, and will be greatly missed. She was born in Munich, Germany on July 1, 1956, to James Kent and Joan Trier Arnold, during her father’s Army assignment there. She was raised in early childhood in New Cumberland, but grew up from age 6 in Camp Hill. She graduated from Camp Hill High School, and attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, studying Creative Writing through her sophomore year, then completed her bachelor degree in English at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. She worked for the Patriot News as a writer, but also spent time in the Boston area, working at a gourmet grocery shop and studying culinary art—this is where she met her first feline friend, Mr. Kitty. She returned to the Harrisburg area, and had a long career in corporate communications and marketing, with positions at the Pennsylvania Bar Association and AMP, Inc., before continuing self-employed in that field through her firm, Words.
Her involvement in cat trap-neuter-return began in 2004, working with a large cat colony at the former Bethlehem Steel Plant in Steelton, and had volunteered with the Helen O. Krause Animal Foundation shelter, and on the boards of and as a volunteer for PAWS, the Central Pennsylvania Animal Alliance, Rehabitat, and the Wind Ridge Farm Equine Sanctuary. In 2012, Christine’s commitment to animal welfare led her to found The Nobody’s Cats Foundation, with the mission to promote the adoption of Trap Neuter Return (TNR) as the preferred strategy for humanely managing and reducing populations of free-roaming domestic felines in the 15 counties of south central Pennsylvania.
Through her tireless work with Nobody’s Cats, the region’s free-roaming cat population has avoided untold suffering, especially in the kittens that never had to experience the rough life of brutal outside conditions. Nobody’s Cats was just named to the country’s list of top ten spay-neuter community cat clinics by volume. By stabilizing the population of free-roaming cats through spaying and neutering, Arnold recently estimated that the organization’s efforts have prevented the birth of over 1 million cats. She spent countless hours presenting this cat control system to local municipalities and cat welfare groups. Her passion has been contagious, inspiring staff and volunteers in her own organization, and in sister organizations, helping to create a vibrant and committed cat welfare army in south central Pennsylvania. The prevention of suffering in free-roaming cats will continue as her legacy.
Christine was an expert birder, and spent extensive time in Cape May, NJ, regularly visiting the Cape May Bird Observatory. She was also an avid gardener, and loved to follow bicycle racing.
Christine was preceded in death by her parents, James and Joan Arnold; step-father, James Evans. She is survived by her brothers Kenneth (Lesley) Arnold, and Matthew Arnold and his partner Kelli Peterson; nephews Derek (Wyatt) Arnold, Samuel (Jessica) Arnold, and Lukas Arnold; niece Elizabeth (Teresa) Ceballos; her step-brothers Andy Evans, Chip (Donna) Evans, and Jeff (Dave Parnell) Evans, and her step-sister Beth Maclay; as well as a multitude of close friends.
