Rudolph Wendelin and Smokey Bear
Beginning in 1944, Wendelin became the full-time artist for the Smokey Bear campaign. He was considered Smokey Bear's "caretaker" until his retirement in 1973.
Rudolph Andreas Michael Wendelin (1910–2000) was a United States Forest Service employee and the best-known artist behind Smokey Bear. Wendelin grew up in Ludell, Kansas. He began his career with the US Forest Service in 1933 as a draftsman and illustrator in Milwaukee. In 1937, he was transferred to DC. Starting in 1944, Wendelin became the full-time artist for the Smokey Bear campaign. He was considered Smokey Bear's "caretaker" until his retirement in 1973.
Rudolph Wendelin was born in Kansas. He lived much of his adult life in Arlington's Bluemont neighborhood and was an artist for the US Forestry Service, best known for Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. After World War II, when he was in the US Navy, he returned to the Forest Service and helped launch the Smokey Bear fire prevention project. Smokey was a bear cub that was burned but survived the 1950 Capitan Gap fire in New Mexico's Lincoln National Forest. Dubbed "Smokey Bear," the cub was donated to the National Zoo. Besides Smokey Bear, Wendelin was also known for the artwork behind Woodsy Owl in the Forest Service prevent pollution program.
In Arlington, Wendelin was well-known for lending his artistry to the Arlington Historical Society, painting his impression of how John Ball and his family may have lived during the Colonial Era. The painting hangs in the Ball-Sellers House Museum in the Glencarlyn neighborhood. He also sketched the Hume School, now the Arlington Historical Museum, on Arlington Ridge Road. His work graces the Arlington Ridge neighborhood signs. He also painted an image of how Crandall Mackey might have looked in his raids on illegal saloons and gambling houses in Rosslyn and Jackson City. Wendelin was seriously injured in a car accident on August 18, 2000. He died as a result of those injuries in a nursing home in Falls Church, Virginia, on August 31, 2000.
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