* Rudolph Wendelin; Smokey the Bear’s ‘Caretaker’

Rudolph A. Wendelin, 90, an artist who became best known as the “caretaker” of firefighting icon Smokey the Bear. Wendelin joined the U.S. Forest Service in Milwaukee in 1933 and transferred to Washington, D.C., four years later. After World War II service as a Navy artist, he resumed his Forest Service career as the man in charge of Smokey the Bear, whom the agency had contrived in 1945 as its “spokesman” in the fight against forest fires. The bear’s slogan, “Remember, only you can prevent forest fires,” became one of the most familiar and imitated instructions of all time. Under Wendelin’s guidance, the bear changed from what originally was a bear cub and later a full-grown animal with fangs and fearsome claws to a more human character. By the 1950s, the bear (by then using a middle name of “the”) sported a ranger’s hat and belted bluejeans. His paws had become hands, in which he always carried a shovel, to better protect America’s forests. Smokey appeared on government posters, postage stamps and television, in magazines, on radio and in various teaching materials. The government licensed Smokey’s likeness for use on such commercial products as school lunch boxes. Wendelin, a native of Kansas who had studied at the University of Kansas, oversaw Smokey’s activities until he retired in 1973. During his long career as a government artist, Wendelin also designed government awards and five commemorative U.S. postage stamps. On Aug. 31 in Falls Church, Va., of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.