When the police put the bear in Ed’s truck, Maria climbed up on the tailgate, she held the bear’s paw in one hand and said a silent goodbye. I could see the sadness in her eyes. We were both grateful that Ed was claiming the body and would do useful things with it – saving the head, the hide, any meat.

I don’t know anyone else close to us who knows how to skin a bear, another amazing facet of Ed’s life. He said he had done it many times before. So dust to dust, our encounter with this bear was short and amazing, this kind of thing still is eye-popping to us.

Maria is a deep and sweet soul, she honors the spirit of every living thing. She said she had to get to know the bear a bit, before letting him go.