SLO County woman’s handmade teddy bear comforted kids for 30 years. Now it has a new home
A handmade teddy bear that comforted schoolchildren in Cupertino for 30 years will now help a new generation of kids in San Luis Obispo County.
Marj Sewell, a 90-year-old San Simeon native, decided to donate her beloved Teddie after being approached by Pat Moreno, a Cambria resident who sponsors annual holiday parties for local women who live alone.
Together, the women found the perfect new home for the stuffed toy: the Cambria Grammar School library.
“It was time to pass him on, to give him as a gift,” Sewell said. “And these were the perfect recipients.”
San Simeon woman loves to volunteer
Sewell is a retired teacher and dedicated volunteer who survived COVID-19 in March 2021.
Despite a health restriction that requires her to have supplemental oxygen 24/7, she’s still active in the North Coast community.
People who went to the Cambria Historical Museum during the town’s Dec. 5 Hospitality Night festivities likely saw her busy being Santa’s elf. She’s also fond of dressing to the nines as a living history docent at Hearst Castle in San Simeon.
She gets it done with style, smiles and a sunshiny outlook on life that’s contagious.
This year, Moreno invited Sewell to her annual Single Women Party for gals who live alone but yearn for a great excuse to dress up and socialize with others during the holiday season.
Moreno came up with the party’s concept in 2012, after her husband died. She realized she’d needed a special activity to jumpstart her holiday spirit that year, and surmised that others in her situation did, too.
A few years after Moreno launched the parties, a group of men from Cambria Vineyard Church volunteered to help with parking in the Leimert area. They serve food and beverages, help clean up and escort the women back in forth while dressed in black pants and white shirts, adding great class to the event.
Moreno’s 2022 bash was her ninth such event; she took two years off during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 80 guests showed up to this year’s gathering — including Sewell, who was attending the festive celebration for the first time. “It was fantastic,” she recalled.
In her invitation for the 2022 Single Women Party, Moreno requested that each invitee either donate funds or food for the SLO Food Bank or bring a contribution for Toys for Tots.
Some of the guests gave to both causes, Moreno said.
“The women are always so generous,” she said.
Teddy bear has comforted kids for decades
Sewell, who’s trying to downsize the rafts of possessions accumulated during her nine decades of life, decided to give her Teddie.
She made the beloved bear toy in the 1970s, she said.
“A kindergarten teacher at our school was giving a class in making bears,” Sewell explained. “I thought, ‘Good. I like to sew,’ so I took the class. We got our fabric and made our bears.”
In doing so, Sewell created a local legend.
Her soft, plush baby bruin became a symbol of love and comfort in her classrooms during her 30 years of teaching in the Cupertino school system.
He was “always in the kindergarten, first and second grade classes” she said, “but also sometimes for the upper grades.”
Deciding it was time for Teddie to fulfill a new role, Sewell brought the toy to Moreno’s party.
She used a red ribbon to tie a note around the toy’s neck. It reads: ‘Teddie’ was made by me. ‘Teddie’ was loved by my students in kindergarten and 1st grade for many years. I pass him on to you to love. Marj Sewell.”
Sewell emphasized at the party that she wanted her bear to fulfill another special role — maybe as a companion for a really needy child or children.
Moreno agreed enthusiastically, but also said that, with Teddie’s lovely history and soft plush fur, it would be a shame for the aging bear to be accidentally slathered with peanut butter or dragged through the mud.
She suggested donating the toy to Cambria’s elementary school, and school Principal Jill Southern immediately concurred.
“I am really happy about welcoming Marj’s ‘reading buddy’ bear to our library,” Southern said.
Toy gets new home at Cambria school
On Tuesday, Dec. 13, Sewell and Moreno delivered Teddie to his new home and, with Southern and school librarian Lauren Conklin standing by, introduced the toy to some kindergarten and third-grade students.
At first, the cautious youngsters wanted details about why Teddie and Sewell were sitting in the rocking chair.
Soon, though, the students had warmed up to the pair and reached out to stroke the bear’s plush fur, hug the toy and make suggestions about where he should sit (“near some books about bears”) and which books they want to read to him.
One third grade girl even noted that the title character of Maurice Sendak’s “Little Bear” books “looks just like Teddie.”
“It’ll be so nice to have something like this for the students. It’s such a great gift for our library,” Conklin said. “I know the kids are really going to enjoy it.”
The librarian will add the year in which Teddie was made and the date when it was donated to Sewell’s note. Then she’ll have the hand-written message card laminated to keep it safe.
As for Sewell, she’s eager to once again read books to youngsters at the library — as she did in the past before the pandemic hit.
This time, however, she’ll have a furry companion who can provide silent comfort and camaraderie for students who need a reading buddy, a boost or just something to hug.
