(At the William Alvin Tolman reunions, for many years, William O. gathered the small children and Aunt Norma Hardy Tolman around him and shared with them the Bear Story.)
When I was a young man about seventeen years of age my father told me that this summer I was to spend in the canyon above Bosteller, herding sheep. I had a friend about the same age who lived near us and his name was Charlie. He was an odd chap. He looked a lot like Lloyd did last night when he was standing outside the little brown shack. Charlie had lost part of his marbles and wasn’t very smart. He had dropped out of school because he simply didn’t have the ability. This summer Charlie’s father sent Charlie to where he had his herd of sheep. I had been in the hills many times before, in fact I had almost lived in the mountains) and I knew the country pretty well. One day Charlie came into camp with his rifle and said, “Will, I’ve been up here almost a month and I haven’t seen a bear yet and I would like to see a bear.” I said, “Charlie, would you really like to see a bear?” and Charlie said, “I really would.” I said, “I know where there is a bear’s hole and if you really want to see him, I’ll take you to him.” I got my rifle and we went over the ridge into the next valley and up the hill side to where there was a big briar patch. We made our way around to the north side and there was a tunnel made by the bear. It must have been made by a smaller animal and then made bigger because it was a big tunnel. I told Charlie that we would have to be careful because this was going to be dangerous. I took a few hairs from the bushes and smelled them and gave them to Charlie as I exclaimed, “Boy, the smell is sure strong.” I told Charlie we would have to get down on our knees and take our guns and be very still so that we could take the bear by surprise. So we started crawling through the hole with our guns. I stopped about halfway through and asked Charlie if he was still with me. He was shaking like a leaf but said, “Yes, Will, I’m with you.” We came to the big mount of dirt that had been pulled out of the hole. I stopped again and told Charlie that when we got over this big mound of dirt we would find the bear. We started over the mound and I yelled, “WATCH OUT!” Charlie went straight into the air and when he came down he was running. He went right through that briar patch. Well, I sat down and had a good laugh. When I got back to camp, there was poor Charlie and the only clothes he had left on were his shoes. Well, I had another good laugh. When he ran through the briar patch the rest of his clothes had been torn off. I knew that it was a bear’s hole, but I also knew that there hadn’t been any bear there for two or three years. (end of story)
(Talk by Loraine Tolman Pace at William’s funeral). I have been trying to imagine the family reunion that is taking place right now. He loved family reunions. He would never miss one if he could help it, no matter which branch of the family it was. In July when we were anticipating going to the William Alvin Tolman Family Reunion which we all look forward to every year we decided that Father was not strong enough to make the trip to Swan Valley, Idaho, and spend three noisy days in a lodge with all of us. But when I came down prior to the reunion, Dad asked me if I would be willing to make a bed in the back of my station wagon so that he could go. So as we talked it over as a family we decided it would be harder on him to make him stay home than to take him with us-if it was possible to make Dad do something he didn’t want to do. But we decided that he should go with us and I know that we are all going to be grateful for that. He was able to celebrate his seventieth birthday with all his brothers and sisters around him and his family and bear his testimony to them at that reunion. (Note: William would pass away about two and a half months after this family reunion).
(Contributed by the Thomas Tolman Family Organization. Excerpts from William Odell Tolman: Patriarch, Genealogist, Teacher compiled by Loraine Tolman Pace, First Edition, 2009, page 523, 636).
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