At 89-years-old, Glenn King has been part of major moments in history. Now, he's taking on another mission, one that is impacting thousands of people.
"If you have something to do that's meaningful, you're going to live a lot longer," Glenn Hamilton King said.
At King's home is a picture of him as a boy, sipping a Coke on a Rhode Island day in the late 1930s. The boy in the picture had no idea where the roads in his life would take him.
King served during the last days of World War II, just before the headlines declared, "Japan Surrenders."
"I tell people that when I joined the Marine Corps, the Japanese surrendered," King laughed.
Stationed at the Marine barracks in Washington, King was assigned to support White House activities and traveled with President Truman.
Years after serving in the Korean War, he became a missile manager at the Army Missile Command in Huntsville.
"I do a lot of riding around the neighborhood on my golf cart, although I don't play golf," King said, making his way through the neighborhood with important cargo in the back of his cart.
Now, living in Murfreesboro, King's life is taking yet another road, perhaps his most unexpected.
"Hello!" King said, his arms full of teddy bears, as he walked up to a family with three children. "Since you're the little one, you get to pick out the first one."
Years after his service, King is now 'The Teddy Bear Man.'
He collects bears year-round and finds them homes. He's given away a staggering number.
"About 4,000," he said. "It gives me something to do and look forward to. The expression on their face will change to a great big smile, and they'll reach on out and get the bear. It's something that I kinda treasure."
One particular stop might mean the most.
"I've got someone to keep you company," King said, walking a stuffed bear into a room with a man sitting inside. "He's been so lonely."
At Community Care of Rutherford County, King introduces new friends.
"His name is Yogi," laughed one resident after getting a bear. "I don't know where Boo Boo at, but this is Yogi."
"The nurses tell me that after I've given them the bears, they don't go any place without the bears," King said.
"That's for you," he told a woman sitting in the doorway of her room. "I gave it to you."
"You did?" she asked. She looked down at a little red bear, visibly moved by the gesture. "I am happy. This made my day. Thank you."
"It's an indescribable feeling, the emotion it brings about in a person," King said.
"I could cry," said another resident, cradling a bear in her arms.
While the kid in the old picture couldn't have guessed all the roads he'd take, King said this road couldn't be more rewarding.
"These people," he said, "it's indescribable and so sincere."
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