|
Mysterious Donors and Teddy Bears
By Ursula B.G. Kilner, Salisbury
The Unknown Star
One of my high school classmates was living in Hawaii at the time that the creation of a fitting memorial of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was under discussion. She was on the committee that examined proposals for a monument, and ultimately the committee chose the walking platform to the spot over the sunken Arizona in Pearl Harbor. Of course the usual problem of raising money for the project came to bother the committee, so letters were sent out to possible donors. Quite quickly enough money was raised and the decision to leave the more than one thousand victims in the sunken ship was made.
Many donations were made by persons who had not been solicited. Among the unsolicited donors was one with "ANONYMOUS" labeled on it. My classmate (who is now ill and in a wheelchair) probably would say nothing; however, I think this is one thing that should be brought forth about the very popular, and still popular, rock star on the 25th anniversary of his death–he would now be 67. When raising money for any cause the dollars sometimes seem to come from very odd people and places. In raising money for the Pearl Harbor Memorial, who would have guessed that the large anonymous donation was made by Elvis Presley?
U.S. Teddy Bear Stamp
Usually the U.S. Post Office makes a great to-do about a new U.S. postal issue. On August 16 the Teddy Bear Stamp, commemorating the 100th year of the Teddy Bear, was issued–which also recognized the 100th anniversary of the day President Theodore Roosevelt did not shoot a bear.
Several stories of the event circulated at the time, but each report ended in the same way: President Roosevelt did not shoot the bear that was in his rifle sights. Small stuffed bears became popular and were dubbed "Teddy" for Theodore Roosevelt. So this may be the only (if unofficial) announcement of the release for use of the first U.S. Teddy Bear postage stamp (37 cents), honoring the Presidential "pardon" of a bear 100 years ago.
| 
