Wednesday, September 26, 1984
A small bear named Albert is back at his home near Leslie following a three-month journey that very people — and only one bear — have been lucky enough to take.
Albert is a teddy bear who was given by his owners, Aimee and Elizaberth Perakes, aged 11 and nine, to Olympic torchbearers when the torch caravan passed through Franklin county June 6.
Albert traveled with the caravan through 11 states, got to see the Olympics, then was flown to New York for publicity photos — for by then ALbert was no longer an ordinary bear: he had been adopted as official mascot of the torch bearers.
Albert returned hyome by mail two weeks ago, but he has one more official appearance to make before resuming life as a regular house bear.
He’ll take part Friday in a ceremony at Beaufort elementary school, when torch carriers Joe Robinson of Des Moines, Iowa, and Mike Pauls of Kansas City will formally return Albert to his two owners. Other torch carriers from the cross-country relay, sponsored by AT&T communications, also will take part in the school assembly.
Robinson is the runner to whom Aimee prresented the bear in June. She ahd her family, along with several neighbors, had waited three hours when the Olympic torch finally came blazing up a dark Highway 50 at 10 p.m.
The small crowd cheered, the runner passed, and the children’s fear that they might not be able to present their gift almost came true.
But a caravan vehicle stopped a short distance up the road, and Aimee was able to give Albert the Running Bear — his full name — to Robinson. Both girls got to hold a replica of the Olympic torch.
“It was a really exciting night,” said AImee. “I couldn’t sleep the whole night.”
But the girls also were a little sad. “That night we were crying, because we thought we wouldn’t see Albert again,” Aimee said. Elizabeth took it the hardest. “She was stuck on that bear,” said her sister.
They didn’t know that Robinson and the other runners would take such a liking for the bear, and that Robinson would take such care to see that Albert finally made it back home.
“We were all so proud of Albert that we showed him off to the press, and to thousands of people we met,” Robinson wrote the girls later. Robinson wasn’t able to stay with Albert all the way to Los Angeles, but he did give insturctions for the bear’s eventual return home, and he checked on Albert weekly by telephone, accortding to the girls’ mother, Judy.
So Albert evidently was in good hands — and in many hands, for that matter. Mrs. Perakes said the inked inscription on the front of Albert’s running suit, “God Bless America,” had faded almost to invisibility from the bear being held so much.
When Albert returned, Mrs. Perakes held a homecoming party, inviting all the neighbors who had been present the night the Olympic torch passed through. She bought four more running bears — Albert’s brothers — and had the neighbors place their signatures on them. The bears will be given to the four torch runners appearing at Aimee’s and Elizabeth’s school Friday.
It was Mrs. Perakes’ idea to give Albert to the runners. She had decided to give them a gift, and Albert, being a running bear, seemed a natural choice.
Albert was a way “to show our support and pride” in the American Olympic athletes, and also a way to “be a part of the Olympic,” she said.
Elizabeth said she had wanted to give her beaer to the runners “because it would probably be the only time we got to see the Olympic runners, and it would probably be the only teddy bear they got.”
Now that the Olympic days are over, Albert plans to remain at home with the Perakes family, which also includes father Dan, sister Robin, brothers Brian and Paul and about 50 other teddy bears.
The family, Mrs. Perakes admits, is nuts about bears. Little bear eyes and shy bear smiles fill almost every shelf and corner in the home, making a visitor feel very much the center of attention, but also quite welcome.
Aimee, weraing a pair of bear-faced house slippers, tried to describe the appeal of teddy bears. “It’s their faces, and the way they look in clothes…” She gave an I-give-up shrug. “They’re adorable,” she summarized.,
One-year-old Albert isn’t an an antique, as some of his companions are, but he’s clearly a historic bear. His running shoes bear the signatures of several of the people who carried the Olumpic torch across the United States, and he wears two buttons acquired on his singular adventure. One is a pin of Sam the Olympic Eagle, the other an “I Love Sedalia” button.
The story behind the two buttons is a mytery to the Perakes family, as is most of the little bear’s odyssey. And Albert is too modest to brag. Thus, the full tale of Albert’s transcontinental journey might never be knwon, although it is said that Albert’s creator, Barbara Isenberg, might write a storybook about the adventure.
Albert wouldn’t suggest what lesson his adventure might contain, but Joe Robinson’s closing remark in a letter to Albert’s owners might be appropriate.
“Keep one foot ahead of the other and don’t look back,” wrote the torch carrier.
People who wish to own a bear like Albert can purchase one at Elm Street Company, Washington, the store Albert came from.
Captions:
Albert the Running bear, official mascot of the Olympic torchbearers, shows off his Olympic running-form at home in Leslie.
Famous Bear — Albert the Running Bear, who traveled with Olympic torch carriers to Los Angeles, is home again in Leslie with his owners, Aimee (left) and Elizabeth Perakes. Albert’s complete story is told in the City of Union section.