"BEAR"

Jack Hunter (Lt)

When Spinax went into overhaul at Hunters Point shipyard in November of 64, I brought my wife and two year old daughter up from San Diego to spend the next six months in San Francisco. The shipyard's housing office allocated us a half a quonset hut as our temporary home. Certainly not a palace, but the one bath, two bedrooms and combination kitchen/dining room/living room were adequate for our needs. (Ever try to hang curtains on a curved wall?)

My wife Ellie packed our small station wagon with all the necessities that she could imagine we might need for the next six months. (We had the only ironing board among all the Spinax wardroom families. The wives descended on our hut to do their ironing the nights I had the duty.) One of the items that had been left behind was a large, four foot tall stuffed black bear that was destined to be a Christmas gift for our daughter. Neither Ellie nor I had the time to run back down to San Diego to retreive "Bear". Our XO Bob Hyde was planning a trip home and we prevailed upon him to bring "Bear" back with him. Please picture the XO driving from San Diego to the shipyard in his small black vw bug with a four foot black bear riding in the passenger's seat. I imagine that bear drew more than a few curious looks from passing motorists. Thanks to Bob, our daughter had a memorable Christmas and "Bear" was a longtime favorite of hers.

Jack Hunter (Lt) <hunter5982@earthlink.net>