Since the time of that post, I found another article about the three bears. This one ran in the Lorain Journal on October 16, 1968 – 50 years ago today – and speculates about the future of Grandma, Gracie and Sophie.
At that time, it was unclear as to whether Elyria was going to be able to keep the bears due to insufficient city funds.
The grass-roots campaign to save the bears also included the goal of enlarging the bears’ den.
The article explains that Grandma “has been in the park for more than 20 years.
“The old bear was born in the den under the big ledge and is the last known descendant of the original pair of bears brought to the city.
“Gracie, who was born in 1957, might possibly be the daughter of Grandma.
“Sophie, who is not as gentle as the other two bears, was given to the city by a hunter who brought the cub back from a hunting trip in 1957.”
I talked to a fellow last year who worked maintenance in the park. He said when there was the possibility of a flood (may have been the 1969 flood) he was given the task of standing by with a rifle to put the bears down if the flood rose to a level where the bears could float/swim over the bars of the cage and escape.
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