RAY BELL (1911-2000)
Smokey the Bear Rescuer

The man responsible for saving the life of Smokey the Bear had earlier lived on a farm one mile southwest of Bergen, North Dakota in McHenry County. Ray Bell not only saved the life of the small bear cub who was injured during a forest fire in 1950, but he and his family also raised the cub in their home until the bear was big enough to be placed in the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where it became the zoo’s biggest attraction.