It was 60 years ago this week that his dad brought home in a shoebox a tiny black bear cub that would become the incarnation of a national icon - but Donald Bell still remembers it vividly. A typical 15-year-old, Donald wasn't much impressed by the arrival of the injured bear at his Santa Fe home; his father, Ray Bell, was a game warden, and routinely brought home injured animals, got them medical care and found homes for them at area zoos. It wasn't until some photos of the bear, his blistered feet bandaged, made their way into newspapers across the country that little Hotfoot Teddy, as he had been named, caught the attention of the U.S. Forest Service and became Smokey Bear - the living symbol of the fire prevention mascot that debuted in 1944. Nowadays, Smokey Bear, in his dungarees and ranger's hat, is one of the most recognizable characters in the U.S. But in May of 1950, he was just a 5-pound cub that frolicked around the Bell home in the evenings with their cocker spaniel puppy...more
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Capitan residents remember Smokey Bear
It was 60 years ago this week that his dad brought home in a shoebox a tiny black bear cub that would become the incarnation of a national icon - but Donald Bell still remembers it vividly. A typical 15-year-old, Donald wasn't much impressed by the arrival of the injured bear at his Santa Fe home; his father, Ray Bell, was a game warden, and routinely brought home injured animals, got them medical care and found homes for them at area zoos. It wasn't until some photos of the bear, his blistered feet bandaged, made their way into newspapers across the country that little Hotfoot Teddy, as he had been named, caught the attention of the U.S. Forest Service and became Smokey Bear - the living symbol of the fire prevention mascot that debuted in 1944. Nowadays, Smokey Bear, in his dungarees and ranger's hat, is one of the most recognizable characters in the U.S. But in May of 1950, he was just a 5-pound cub that frolicked around the Bell home in the evenings with their cocker spaniel puppy...more
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Great story. As a second grader in 1962 in MA, I was very much caught up in the Smokey Bear craze at it worked into a timber industry unit in our social studies class. After the module was over the teacher gave material from the forest service that ignited an enthusiasm for the outdoors that I retain even today. I think I still have the tin "Junior Forest Ranger" badge that I got during that time. I could recite the story of Smokey the Bear from memory. One of the highlights of a trip to Washington D.C. my family took in 63 was to see Smokey at the National Zoo (that and the machine gun demo at the FBI tour).
I was inculcated with a outdoors and conservation ethic in those days (notice I avoid the term "environmentalist" they were not around yet). My family was not the "outdoorsy" types but that did not keep me from roaming the "forest" areas around where we lived, most county parks.
The difference that I see is in my case and the latest initiative is that the Forest Service provided materials which helped a wonderful teacher to tap into the imagination and interests of a second grader. Today, it seems they want to run the program.
Great story. As a second grader in 1962 in MA, I was very much caught up in the Smokey Bear craze at it worked into a timber industry unit in our social studies class. After the module was over the teacher gave material from the forest service that ignited an enthusiasm for the outdoors that I retain even today. I think I still have the tin "Junior Forest Ranger" badge that I got during that time. I could recite the story of Smokey the Bear from memory. One of the highlights of a trip to Washington D.C. my family took in 63 was to see Smokey at the National Zoo (that and the machine gun demo at the FBI tour).
I was inculcated with a outdoors and conservation ethic in those days (notice I avoid the term "environmentalist" they were not around yet). My family was not the "outdoorsy" types but that did not keep me from roaming the "forest" areas around where we lived, most county parks.
The difference that I see is in my case and the latest initiative is that the Forest Service provided materials which helped a wonderful teacher to tap into the imagination and interests of a second grader. Today, it seems they want to run the program.
Ray Bell was a low-key and humble man, and he was one of the first persons I met when I first arrived in T or C back in 1976. I'll never forget him.
Post a Comment