Owners of teddy bear made from late ‘Mammie’s jacket’ found

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – With the help of a group of Facebook detectives, a sentimental teddy bear will soon be back in the hands of its rightful owner.

Regena Moreno started cracking the case of who owned a teddy bear made from a “late Mammie’s jacket” less than a week ago. Moreno posted photos of the teddy bear Saturday on the “Hip Cookeville” Facebook page after finding it at a Goodwill store.

Moreno said in the post she was looking for the teddy bear’s family. “Mammie’s Jacket 3/24/1928 - 6/21/1996″ is stitched on the back of the bear.

Group members started researching and traced the bear back to Jackie Nuckols, the daughter of Nelda Jean Mansfield, of Glasgow, Kentucky.

All of Mansfield’s grandchildren called her Mammie, Nuckols said. So, when Mansfield died in 1996, Nuckols had five or six teddy bears made out of Mansfield’s clothes to make sure her grandchildren had something to remember her by.

“I had them made just so we could hold a bit of her memories,” Nuckols said.

When she saw messages about the teddy bear being found in a Goodwill, Nuckols was taken back. She has reached out to her sisters to see what happened but hasn’t heard back yet.

“I was a little bit devastated at first,” she said. “I knew exactly what it was. I have one on my bed. I had it designed and created. Maybe it was a mistake (that it ended up at a Goodwill). Maybe they were cleaning. I don’t know anything about it.”

Nuckols said Facebook users tracking her down so easily was startling. But she said she’s thankful Moreno saved the bear so she can give it to her mother’s great grandchildren.

“I’m so glad that a kind woman and her husband saw it and thought enough about it to research and make sure it made its way back home. I know they worked really really hard to try to find us,” Nuckols said. “All they had was some dates. She put it on that Cookeville site, and people started responding and researching. I saw (they tracked down) my Facebook page. I saw my dad’s obituary. I was taken back because all of that is family, and I was thinking, ‘that’s how easy people can find people.’ They had found us within a day. They had us pinpointed and located. But I’m thankful she didn’t destroy the bear and thought enough of us to make sure it made its way back home.”

Moreno and Nuckols have not decided whether they will meet up or have the bear sent home in the mail.

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