Zach Medlin was walking his dog in Kiroli Park in West Monroe, Louisiana, when he stumbled across something he’d never noticed before. A small square stone was peeking out between the fallen leaves and pine needles.

Medlin’s dog, Serena, a one-eyed Staffordshire terrier, was much more interested in chasing ducks in the nearby lake. But Medlin wanted to investigate, so he uncovered the stone.

“The inscription was covered by some pine straw,” Medlin told The Dodo. “So I had to move the pine straw out of the way to read what the grave marker had to say.”

The inscription read: “Buddie, 1928 — 1941. Born a dog / Died a gentleman.”

Medlin wondered what this dog was doing buried in a 160-acre public park all by himself.

From the touching inscription, Medlin could tell Buddie was a great dog who was deeply loved by his family all those years ago.

“It warms my heart to know that Buddie carried his owners through the Great Depression,” Medlin said. “All dogs deserve a grave marker.”

Local legend has it that the park used to be a summer camp for the Boy Scouts, and that a dog named Buddie was their mascot. One day, a boy swimming in the lake started to drown. Buddie spotted the boy and started barking, alerting the other Scouts, who were able to save the boy.

However, research seems to disprove this myth. “While I was reading newspaper clippings detailing the legend, I found a copy of a handwritten note dated October 18, 1993,” Lora Peppers wrote on Findagrave.com. “It says the following: ‘According to Mrs. Dee Strickland, the dog belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Albert H. Jones, 215 Breard St., Monroe. Mrs. Strickland lived with the Jones [family] in 1932. The dog was a beautiful Irish setter. Mr. Jones frequently took him to Kiroli Park to run, so when he died, he decided to bury him in Kiroli Park.’”

Whether the dog was a hero to a group of Boy Scouts or just his family, Buddie was clearly a very good boy. And the sweet memorial allows his memory to live on.