Former First Cat's ashes scattered at Ark. mansion (UALR Public Radio) -

Socks, a one-time stray cat who roamed the lawns of the Arkansas governor's mansion just Bill Clinton became president, has returned home for his final rest.
Officials spread a portion of the cat's ashes in the mansion's west flower garden during a private ceremony in March. Attending the ceremony were Linda Dixon of the Clinton Presidential Library and Arkansas' first lady Ginger Beebe, who read a poem she wrote in honor the cat.
"When (the Clintons) lived at the mansion that's where Socks hung out, on the back porch there," mansion administrator Ron Maxwell told Stephens Media.
A small plaque off a porch outside of the mansion's kitchen now honors the cat. The small urn that carried the cat's ashes are now at the Clinton Presidential Library along the Arkansas River in Little Rock.
"It's history, it's kind of an interesting oddity for kids and whoever is interested in the cat," Maxwell said.
Socks was what feline-lovers call a tuxedo cat -- mostly black with white down the front and belly and on his feet, suggesting a fashionable dandy in a black satin evening jacket with a snowy shirt peeping out. He had markings that looked a bit like a mustache and goatee.
Born in 1989, Socks was adopted by the Clintons in 1991 after he jumped into the arms of Chelsea Clinton while she was leaving the house of her piano teacher in Little Rock. Chelsea Clinton's pet first appeared in the news in November 1992 after then-Gov. Bill Clinton won the presidency and the family was still in the governor's mansion.
Socks followed the family to the White House, where he'd be leashed out walks outside. The cat had a testy relationship with the Clinton's dog Buddy, but otherwise lived a charmed life.
After the Clintons left the White House, Socks lived with Bill Clinton's secretary, Betty Currie, in Hollywood, Md. The cat died in February. Reports surfaced in late 2008 that he had cancer and Currie had ruled out invasive efforts to prolong his life.

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