John Bear Streat once gave a dog the shirt off his back.
He also helped take care of a hospice patient from time to time and donned a Santa costume each year for St. Luke’s Hospital where his wife, Leslie Burgess works.
“You don’t expect that from a big leathery biker,” said Burgess. “But that’s just the kind of man Bear was.”
Streat passed away Wednesday, Nov. 30 from injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident after leaving the Polk County Toy Run Saturday, Nov. 26.
Just 10 minutes before the accident, Streat had dropped his wife off and continued on with other bikers. Burgess said officers investigating the wreck haven’t been able to determine a cause, while doctors said Bear showed no signs of any medical condition that could have made him lose control of the bike that day.
Regardless of why it happened, Burgess said her husband died doing what he loved. He died “in the saddle.”
A tough man by the look of things, the 64-year-old tattoo artist was known to be a kind soul through and through.
The day before Thanksgiving, Bear walked into St. Luke’s Hospital lugging a deep fried turkey for all the staff to enjoy. In fact, Burgess said all she had to do was mention the hospital needed something and he was there.
St. Luke’s spokesperson Kathy Woodham said words could not express the loss staff members feel.
“As a small hospital, we are like family, so this news has been pretty tough for us. Bear was a generous, caring man with a really big heart. I was lucky to get to know him several years ago – I needed a Santa for the parade, so he and Leslie both volunteered to help me out! He came with his truck, helped load and decorate a hospital gurney, donned a Santa suit and had a blast in that parade. Ever since, he was the one I called on to be our Santa.”
The hospital had purchased Bear a new Santa suit and he was even growing out his beard so it would feel real when the kids tugged on it, Burgess said.
Oh, and the story about giving a dog the shirt off his back is no tall tale.
Burgess said Bear showed up at her house four hours late for a date early on in their relationship.
Though most women might have been furious, Burgess heard him out long enough to learn that he stopped when he saw a dog that had been hit by a car. He wrapped the dog in his shirt and rushed it to a vet. Bear even stayed and petted the dog while the vet put it to sleep.
“I thought, ‘That’s the man for me,’” Burgess said.
Streat, a tattoo shop owner from New Orleans, became a “fully giving transplant,” Burgess said, after the two married in 2000. It wasn’t long before he made friends with a few other bikers and began riding in the annual Polk County Toy Run.
While Streat may have rode in his last toy run Saturday, Nov. 26, winding his way through the mountains he had come to call home, it won’t likely be the last one he has an affect on.
Burgess said she heard a particularly large number of teddy bears were collected in Bear’s honor at the Smoky Mountain Toy Run in Buncombe County Dec. 3.
“I’m just amazed by the man still today,” Burgess said. “Just amazed.”