The Seal Man

R.T. Carr, Editor

On a final note.

   I was reminiscing just as this was sent to my webmaster for final editing into another e-book. I was looking at the cemetery photos of Judge Buchman and his 'son', AKA Dusty and Babe. I spotted to the right rear of the photo a blurry tombstone, a small one, with some sort of insignia on it. It gave me a great excuse to go out to the Pioneer Cemetery and check, since none of the photos were focused in on the background. There just to the south of what I have now firmly documented, at least to my satisfaction, to be the resting place of Babe and Dusty is a small tab of a tombstone, a lot like those of a child of the period. Etched on it is an emblem of a seal in a classic pose, flippers clapping together.

  I hope the Seal Man is as happy wherever he is as the seal on the stone. Lovingly carved, the Sea Lion has a fat fish in his teeth and seems ready to eat. Although there is no evidence of this, I can picture him there in his final resting place wearing his seal costume. His soul free and in the ocean with all the other seals that had gone on before, including his dear friend Sparkle, and those that have come to eternity since. I know this is a romantic notion, but allow me the liberty of the good thought here.

  It is hard to predict where research will lead, what one will discover, how surprising coincidence might be. This research is a case in point. I was led by the story of the seal man back into another part of Dusty's life. Who is to tell where I will be led next?

R.T. Carr III
(c)2002 All rights reserved.

 

 

Dedication

To Sealo the Seal Boy, who sold postcards of himself for a quarter. He lit cigarettes with his 'flippers' as a special trick. The only Seal I ever met who could talk. He has no connection to the story , he was just a Carnival Performer and friend from the 1960's. A Carnival 'Freak' in the most positive sense. He was 3 feet tall with very short arms and almost no legs. His body looked like a seal, but he voted and paid his taxes on his income.