Orville Nelson BEAR was born 10 Oct 1910 and was the fourth of 10 children to parents William Franklin BEAR and Anna Pearl (SHELDEN) BEAR CARSE. He became known as "Doc" due to his interest in caring for the farm animals. He first attended school at Lone Star and then Monroe Center, both single-room country schools. At about the age of 12 he moved with the family a half mile northeast to the BEAR Home Place after his paternal grandmother, Amanda Elvina (DULY) BEAR, died. Amanda always made children feel welcome. His grandfather, Solomon BEAR, died when he was three. His maternal grandparents, Reuben SHELDEN and Pheba (ZORNES) SHELDEN, lived only a few miles southeast. Doc helped with the farming and after he was old enough took his turn helping his father maintain the local roads with a horse-drawn grader.

Donna Leslie STEVENS was born 4 March 1915 and was the fifth of six children to Homer R. STEVENS and Edith May (BEADLE) STEVENS. Donna was born at Knowlton, Iowa near what is now Diagonal, Iowa. That was about 13 miles west of the BEAR Home Place. Her paternal grandparents, Ralph Edward STEVENS and Nancy Jane (SIMPSON) STEVENS lived just a few miles southwest. Her maternal grandparents, Benjamin Franklin Samuel BEADLE and Emeline (BAILEY) BEADLE, lived just a few miles west. When Donna started school, the family had moved to Corydon. Later they moved to Seymour and then to a farm near Beaconsfield which was just east of the BEAR Home Place. She attended Beaconsfield school where she enjoyed playing basketball. Donna best remembers the cold, snowy winters near Beaconsfield, especially when going to and from school on the railroad tracks with her brothers Walter and R.B. There seemed to be more snow and lower temperatures at that time compared to now. Donna said in later years that her favorite colors were pink and green, and her favorite foods were fried chicken, layer salad, and pie.

Doc and Donna were married at Bethany, Missouri on 21 August 1931 with her father, Homer, plus his sister, Theola, and her husband Gilmore BARBOUR being present. The wedding was held at a minister's home in Bethany. Donna was 16 and wore a blue dress to the wedding while Doc was 20. On their wedding night they returned to Beaconsfield, Iowa where they took care of the farm chores for Theola and Gilmore followed by a trip to the Mount Ayr County Fair. Some of their friends thought they had gotten married with many other couples at the fair but that was not the case. As was the custom, they lived with relatives until they started their own farm. First, they lived with Theola and Gilmore while working for farmers in the area. Then they lived and farmed with his parents on the BEAR Home Place for about a year while father William Franklin BEAR maintained roads. They then rented a farm north of Ellston during the hot, depression years of the early 1930's where Nadine Gay and Ramon Lee were born. Nadine on January 29, 1933 and Ramon on December 29, 1934. Donna's parents lived a half mile away so they shared farming equipment. Then Doc and Donna worked for George VANCE on his farm just north of Lesanville Corner where Gary Ray was born on December 11, 1938. For working six days a week they received $30 a month, free rent of a farm house and garden, one butcher hog per year, and one gallon of fresh milk per day. They then rented a farm from Clyde LESAN southwest of Diagonal. This was just a mile west of the farm where Homer STEVENS was born. Doc and Donna then moved to a rented farm northeast of Mount Ayr, also owned by Clyde LESAN, where Glee Maxine was born on January 28, 1943. Doc did not serve during WWII due to farming with a large family.

They moved to Parkrose, Oregon in 1946, where Doc worked in a door factory. Due to the high cost of living in a city and being so far away from both sets of parents and many other relatives they returned to Iowa in 1951 working for Perry BENDER on a farm west of Mount Ayr. In December of 1952 Doc began working for Ringgold County maintaining the roads, this time with a motorized road grader, and continued working there until he retired in 1975 at the age of 65. While working for the county they lived with Homer STEVENS, after the death of wife Edith, in Diagonal and later in a rented house in Tingley. They then bought a house across Main Street from the schoolhouse, still in Tingley. After a few years they sold that house and bought the house at 209 W. Main Street in Tingley where they continued living long after they retired.

During this whole time Donna had the hard work of raising four children and managing the household including the yard, garden, and flowers. Donna also had many fun family dinners and was an excellent cook and hostess.

Their hobby was to enjoy family and friends. That was very apparent during their 50th wedding anniversary at the Tingley Community Center in 1981. It was even more apparent ten years later when they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in the same room. That big room was filled to capacity with family and friends from near and far with all four of their children plus families being present. That was just a few miles from the BEAR Home Place.

Late in 1999 they both moved, due to failing health, to the Clearview Nursing Home at Mount Ayr, Iowa. After about three years both passed away due to declining health with Doc on April 26, 2002 and Donna on January 2, 2003. They are buried side by side, as they lived for over 70 years, in Rose Hill Cemetery at Mount Ayr, Iowa.