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The last chapter in the Book of the life of Ray Liberty Bell, (the Forest Ranger who pluckedSmokey the Bear cub from a burnt tree after a forest fire in the Capitan Mountains) has been completed this 21st day of December, 2000. Ray died early Thursday morning at his home in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico after a long, tough battle with cancer. He was 89 years old. Ray was born October 3, 1911, in Frederick, Oklahoma, to Thomas Grovner "Pop" Bell and Mary Ruth Sturdy"Mombell" Bell. He first came to Yeso, New Mexico in 1912 in a covered wagon with his parents. At the age of six, Ray and his family moved to Bergen, North Dakota. In 1928, at the age of 17, he threw his saddle on a horse and headed south, back to New Mexico, ending up in the small community of Mangus where he homesteaded 160 acres. In 1931, Ray traveled back to North Dakota and completed his junior and senior courses to graduate from high school in one year. He returned to Mangus in 1932, where he met Mary Ruth Wilson. They were married in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1933. While Ray lived in the Mangus/Quemado, New Mexico area, he worked as a cowboy. He rodeoed professionally, riding saddle broncs, steer wrestling, and calf roping to supplement his family's income. Ray was the first cowboy ever to bulldog a buffalo in a rodeo. Ray was with the United States Soil Conservation Service during 1935-1936. From 1936-1939, he was a field representative with the United Pueblo Indian Service where he assisted the Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Hopi and Laguna Pueblos with their livestock. In 1940, Ray moved to the New Mexico Game and Fish Department as a Deputy Game Warden. When Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941, he joined the United States Army Air Force and served his country until the end of World War II. During the war he served as a tail gunner, remote control turret mechanic on a B-29 Bomber in India and Tenian. During his tenure in India, Ray broke his foot when he jumped off the wing of a B-29 onto a sacred cow to bulldog it. He nearly caused an international crisis for his effort with the sacred cow. It seems the people in India don't take kindly to cowboys assaulting their cows. They aren't as understanding as the Indians in New Mexico. At the end of WWII, Ray rejoined the New Mexico Game Department and on January 1, 1946, was stationed at Capitan, New Mexico. While he was stationed in Capitan, he completed flight training and received his private license. In 1948 Ray became the pilot of the first plane ever purchased by the State of NM for the Game and Fish Department. He was regarded as one of the top five single-engine pilots in the Southwest and was called upon time and again to locate lost hunters and hikers. In May 1950, as Chief of Law Enforcement for the NM State Game Dept., Ray was called upon to fly the game department plane to Capitan to assist with a forest fire that was out of control in the Capitan Mountains. Ray flew over the fire and helped direct the placement of equipment and personnel. At the conclusion of the fire it was discovered that a six-week-old, four pound, black bear cub had been brought into the fire camp by a 19-year-old Fort Bliss soldier who was assisting fighting the fire. The bear was injured with burns on its paws and belly and needed medical attention. Ray flew the bear to his home in Santa Fe and had a veterinarian dress the burns. The bear was cared for by Bell and his family for two months beforethe living symbol for Smokey The Bear was flown to The National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Ray Bell has been identified for the past fifty years as the"ranger who brought Smokey the Bear out of a forest fire. Ray devoted more than 60 years of his life to the preservation of the environment. 50 of those years were spent as Spokesman for Smokey Bear, the world famousfire prevention bear, a prominent figure in the preservation of natural forests. Ray was a main stay promoter of the Smokey Bear Museum in Capitan. In 1958, Governor Ed Mechem appointed Ray Bell as Director of the newly formed New Mexico Department of State Forestry, a post which he held until his retirement in 1971. Ray was a Shriner and a 50-year member of Carrizozo Lodge #41, AF & AM. Ray is preceded in death by his first wife, Mary Ruth Wilson, the mother of their son, in 1980; their adopted daughter, Judith Lynn Bell, in 1982; and his second wife, Esther Braatten, Velva, ND, who passed away in 1997. Ray is survived by his only son, Donald R. Bell, wife Joy, of Las Cruces, New Mexico; one sister, Bell Steel, husband, Howard of Alamogordo, New Mexico; five grandchildren, Jeri and Johnna of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Nolan of Corpus Christi, Texas, Charles of Ft. Worth, Texas and Mary of Ft. Hood, Texas; eleven great-grandchildren, Dallas, Dilan, Dustyn, Brice, Ross, Jessie, Justin, Morgan, Marshall Ray, Mary Ruth and Diana. Memorial Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 28, 2000 at the Sierra Funeral Home Chapel. Ray's grandson, the Reverend Charles S. Bell, will officiate. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Capitan High School Alumni Association for the RAY BELL/SMOKEY BEAR Scholarship. Donations may be sent to P.O. Box 944, Capitan, NM 88316-0944. Arrangements are entrusted to the care and direction of Sierra Funeral Home, 507 West McAdoo Street, Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, 505-894-4428.
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