How do you deal with a small bear that can talk? After rescuing Whimsy V Bear from the torments of two bullies, nine-year-old Johnny is astonished when the bear speaks to him. Thus begins the recorded adventures in The Whimsy V Bear Chronicles as the little bear experiences one disaster after another. Although Whimsy is gentle, goodhearted, and naïve, his innocence is such that the little bear cannot understand why he is constantly in trouble. The reader may choose to look at the relationship between Johnny and Whimsy as somewhat similar to that of Christopher Robin and Pooh Bear. However, Whimsy's world and the issues with which he is confronted are relevant and contemporary. Whimsy's lifemate (Florence Bear) has a black belt in Bear'a'te. His best friend is Desmond Diamondback (a nearsighted rattlesnake), and two of his relatives are his lifemate's uncle Rumpole of the Bearly (a bearister) and Albert E. Bear (a genius who occasionally questions Steven Hawking about his universal theories). Even with such support against the bully boys and bully bears, Whimsy V Bear's life is a series of difficult events and improbable decisions
About the Author: Dr. Richard G. Gebhardt (a.k.a. "Old Doc Hisself") has spent most of his life seeking self-improvement-a task akin to cleaning the Aegean Stables with a toothbrush. His employment record includes working in a machine shop, a chemical factory, a boiler factory, and as a construction laborer. His stint in the U.S. Marine Corps was relatively uneventful, other than a brief encounter with malaria. He was a tree trimmer with the City of Akron (Ohio) Parks Department, then spent seven years as an Akron Police Officer during the early and mid 1950's. For three years he was a production scheduler with Goodyear Industrial Products. A an uninspired student, he barely escaped high school with a D-minus average, and during his first semester at Akron University earned a 1.0 GPA with eight hours of F. He continued to attend part time and finally graduated in 1963 with a BS in Education. He spent four years with the Summit County Juvenile Court System working with delinquent youth, and then taught in an inner-city school for a year. Subsequently he worked for five years as a juvenile parole officer and as an administrator with the Ohio Youth Commission, during which time he earned an MSW degree at Ohio State University. Armed with this credential, he spent the next eight years as the treatment director at Buckeye Boys Ranch working with delinquent and disturbed youth, while attending Ohio State University toward his doctorate. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1978, and that same year was selected as the executive director of St. Vincent Children's Center, in Columbus, Ohio. He maintained this role for ten years, while also teaching part time at Ohio State University. Then he retired. The retirement lasted two weeks. He took on roles as a clinical therapist, first at Sandusky Valley Mental Health Center in Tiffin, Ohio, then with a mental health center in Worthington, Ohio. He continued to teach graduate courses part time at Ohio State as well as Heidelberg College. He retired again in August 2002, and wrote two children's books. Over the years, he sired five children in two marriages. He met his third wife at a Highlights for Children Writer's Workshop at Chatauqua, NY in 1993, and moved to Durham, NC that same year. In 1994, he started work with Measurement Incorporated (contracting with various state boards of education to create and score tests), and eventually retired in January 2009 at age 80 to continue to write fiction.