Are There Bears On Cape Cod?
In a Cape Cod town where surnames like Hallet, Sears, and Howes are common, my father’s name - Derge Dewey Bear - was that much more unusual. Someone gifted my father one of those wooden sideboards people put over their garages with cool property names like “serenity by the sea” or “drift away cottage” - my father’s was emblazoned with “D.D. Bear.” My school bus stopped right by the driveway giving schoolmates clear view of the house sign. I remember a neighbor boy would jump off the bus yelling “D.D. Bear!” before he ran to his house to start pranking me with phone calls for the rest of the afternoon. Still I’ve always been very proud of the Bear name. Derge Dewey Bear was from the Midwest. He introduced into my mother’s traditional New England and Cape Cod recipe box such items as chili, and scrapple, and hogs feet (which I never tried). What was my father doing on the Cape in the first place? Derge Bear bartending at The Riverway Restaurant in South Yarmouth