It was a wonderful funeral, if that is possible. Everyone made me feel at home. My great mother had told everyone about her times with me and the bears.
Lynn, Gerry and Linda
with resting bear 6-2004 It made me want to see everyone again. I surprised a couple people by telling them how their mother and father had met back in the early 1940’s. Their father had saved me from drowning in Lake Michigan and as a result met Gerry’s little sister who he eventually married. He continued to call me until he died decades later. The near drowning was when I was small and my birth mother, her sister, and my adoptive mother had taken me to Lake Michigan for a week on the beach.
Deer looking up to 2nd floorAt the funeral, I felt such support. My whole family and my old buddies from the neighborhood were there. Someone from my high school class came. It was great to again meet Gerry’s relatives I hadn’t seen for decades. I wore the engraved gold ring Gerry made for me saying “I love you, Son.” We all took many pictures of us together.
The picture here is from one of my mother's bear visits to the WRI over the decades. It is of a resting wild bear, me, Mom Gerry, and my half-sister Linda who could not have been better to me at the funeral. A sad but good time.
The deer is looking up at me on the second floor deck after I emptied a scoop of sunflower seeds down over the railing. Back at home.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center