Column: Shorelines

Photos by Denise Allen Membreno | Special to Laker Weekly

Mary Beckner of Hardy with some of the teddy bears she makes.

A quilt at Smith Mountain Lake Quilting on Scruggs Road makes a perfect backdrop for Beckner Bears.

These bears are tame. They do not hibernate and they are house-broken. They provide comfort and companionship to people of all ages.

I'm not referring to a black bear or a grizzly. Not even a circus bear fits this description; only a teddy bear is endowed with all of those qualities.

"There's nothing better than having a good warm teddy bear to snuggle up to," said Mary Beckner.

She should know. The Hardy resident has been making teddy bears for 20 years. Beckner retired from Trigon-Blue Cross Blue Shield in 1999 and has been making bears full time ever since. Beckner designs her own bears and will make them out of special mementos.

"I've made them out of grandma's fur coat," said Beckner. "I've made them out of blue jeans, just about anything."

Making bears out of materials with sentimental meaning allows items such as bedspreads to be shared by several people. In some cases, it helps preserve items that are no longer used for what they originally were intended.

"There were several granddaughters and they remembered this bedspread being on grandma's bed," recalled Beckner. "I've forgotten how many bears I got out of it, but I had to line it because it was so old it was deteriorating."

Beckner has doctored bears as well, giving new life to old friends who have lost fur, limbs or stuffing. Whatever the case, when she finishes a bear for a client, she gets paid in gratitude as well as dollars.

"A lady called me and asked if I repaired bears," recalled Beckner. "She brought me the bear in a plastic bag and it was just a lump of fabric; her daughter slept with it and she wanted me to put the fur back on."

Beckner told her that was an impossible task. Instead, she made the bear a full-body suit and put the bear inside a new skin.

"The girl loved it and I've even made her another since then," Beckner said.

Beckner travels to "bear shows" and has gotten as much as $250 for a small bear. She also donates bears to her charity of choice, Good Bears of the World, which takes bears donated by artisans such as Beckner and auctions them. The group uses the money to buy small new bears, which are donated to hospitals, rescue squads and police departments to give to children who have been involved in some kind of tragedy. Beckner said used bears cannot be used in a medical setting because of the possibility of germs.

On the day I met Beckner, she had just accepted a job to make two bears out of a mink coat. She usually charges $125 to make bears out of mink. The furs are hard to work with because it takes several pelts to complete one coat, making it difficult to work around. Bears fashioned out of other materials range in cost from $45 for a 12-inch bear to $750 to $1,000 for a 4-foot bear.

Beckner said another reason she has taken to making bears out materials that have meaning to someone is because the cost of the materials used to make bears recently has skyrocketed.

"Mohair starts out at $100 dollars a yard, and that's for short nap, and it goes all the way up to $400 a yard," explained Beckner. "If I bought the materials for a 4-foot bear, it would cost $750. The eyes alone cost more than $18."

Becker said she also gets more enjoyment out of making "memory bears." Fashioning bears out of materials such as old coats and bedspreads, which are not being used, is one way to recycle sentimental items and makes them usable again.

You can find Beckner Bears in several area stores, including Cozy Corners at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke or you can contact her directly to personalize a bear for you. After all, Valentine's Day is just around the corner.

Mary Beckner, 890-2703, www.goodbearsoftheworld.org