American novelist
Walter Morey (February 3, 1907 – January 12, 1992), was a writer of numerous works of children's fiction, set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest and Alaska, the places where Morey lived for all of his life. His book Gentle Ben was the basis for the 1967 movie Gentle Giant and the 1967-1969 television show Gentle Ben.[2]
He wrote a total of 17 published books, most of which involve as a central plot element the relationship between man and animals. Many of his works involve survival stories, or people going into the wild to "discover" themselves; redemption through nature is a common theme of Morey's works.[3]
Life and career
Morey began going to school in 1912, in Jasper, Oregon. He was never very keen on school. In 1934 he began working in a veneer plant, making brushes in a paintbrush factory and doing work in the woods. On July 8, 1934, he married his first wife, Rosalind Ogden, in Portland, Oregon. Rosalind died February 28, 1977. On June 26, 1978 he married Peggy Kilburn.
Early in his writing career, he also published numerous short pulp fiction stories. For much of his life, he was a boxer and diver, in addition to being an author.
Morey won awards for his books Gentle Ben, Kävik the Wolf Dog, Canyon Winter, Runaway Stallion, Run Far Run Fast, and Year of the Black Pony.
Morey lived on property he owned in Wilsonville, Oregon and wrote many of his books there. After his death, his widow sold the property to developers. The resulting development was named Morey's Landing and also contains Walt Morey Park, a bear-themed park that features an 8-foot-tall life-size carved wooden statue of Morey's famous fictional bear, Gentle Ben.[4] In 2012, the Gentle Ben statue was stolen from the park by local teens and dumped in a roadside ditch. It was later found and returned to the park.[5][6]
The Wilsonville Public Library has also honored Morey by naming its Walt Morey Children's Room after him, displaying a 3-foot-tall bronze statue of him and occasionally displaying other memorabilia, such as his typewriter and editions of his books.[7][8]
The Reynolds School District in Troutdale, Oregon, opened Walt Morey Middle School in 1998.
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