WHEN JOHN KNEW ELVA WAS THE GIRL FOR HIM

John tells the story of camping in Yellowstone Park 

Early in their married life, John and Elva enjoyed spending time outdoors.  Since they lived in the mountains of Colorado, there were many chances for them to go camping and spending time in nature.  One time, John tells of a camping trip they took to Yellowstone National Park.  Their trips to Yellowstone happend MANY summers, but one of the first trips they took, they stayed at a tent campground inside the Yellowstone National Park.  They were poor college professor/young married couple - so they didn't have funds to stay in the cabins or lodges in Yellowstone.  

That meant tent camping AT IT'S FINEST.  So, they packed their belongs and set off to camp in Yellowstone.  The afternoon they set up camp and set up the tent, and cook stove on the picnic table supplied by the campground.  They went off for a hike through the campground and came back to fix dinner.  The story is as Elva was fixing dinner or getting things ready to cook, one of the local neighbors - a curious black bear, came wandering through the campground.  Back in the day, the elk, bison, and bears would ALL meander through the camping areas because this was THEIR forest and we were just visitors.  So the black bear came wandering up the path directly to where Elva was cooking/preparing dinner.  Now remember, these are 2 young, newlywed "broke" kids, that spent their money wisely and didn't have much to spare.  So when the black bear came up to the table looking for a "FREE MEAL" - Elva was having NONE of that.  She grabbed pots and pans from the table, started banging them together and drove the bear from the campsite.

John knew two things - One - THIS WAS THE GIRL FOR HIM, and Two - Don't mess with this woman - she's not afraid to tackle a bear - so you know you don't want to be the one who messes with her! 

LOOKING FOR YOUR STORIES

As the family, we know there are memories you have of Elva, and we would love to hear them.  As we continue to add to this story of her life, we want to hear from you.  Until we are able to collect information directly, we're asking that you send your stories to her gmail, elvamays213@gmail.com.

You can e-mail them and please reference STORIES in the subject, so they don't get lost in the email filters.

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