"Shane and the Bear"

The song "Shane and the Bear" was written by my Uncle Randy Allred and his cousin Rob Burk. The incident that inspired the song occurred around in the late 1970s in a remote area of the White Mountains known as Patty Creek. We were attending a Burk Reunion, that was comprised of members of my Grandma Allred's family, when my Dad's cousin, Shane Kelly, went fishing at the crack of dawn with my Aunt Sharon and my cousin Trevor. While he was fishing, Shane heard some rustling and was startled to see a bear. He ran one way, and the bear ran the other. Shane met up with Trevor and Sharon, and the three of them quickly evacuated the area. When they returned to camp, they became instant celebrities as they shared their story over and over again. The adventure was soon put to verse by Randy and Rob, and the song became a family favorite to be sung around campfires at every family reunion for years to come.
When I was writing my book, The Narrows Escape, about my many cherished memories from past family reunions, the song "Shane and the Bear" was one of the first memories to come to mind. Over the many drafts of the book, the bear scene remained a constant - though the details evolved to fit the changing story. In an effort to limit the number of characters in the book, I assigned Shane's role in the story to Devin's older brother Dane. I later changed Dane's name to Shane since I wanted to use the song in the book without changing the wording used in the original song. I received permission from Randy and Rob to include the song in my book, and named two of the DTB cousins' uncles Randy and Rob to make sure that the intellectual rights to the material was attributed to the correct individuals. All other names in the book have been changed to emphasize the fact that they are fictional.