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When Greg
Brown set out to paint this mural at the new site
of Stanford's Health Library, he had a scene in
mind. He just needed a model -- and that's where
his mother-in-law came in. "I don't wear my hair
anything like that, but he surely captured my
face," laughs Virginia Whittington Weber, of Palo
Alto. She plays the caring advice-giver in the
mural, which brightens an outdoor wall at Stanford
Shopping Center. The artist used a bear to avoid
depicting human suffering too literally. He
originally wanted to paint a grumpy grizzly, but
shopping center officials feared confusion with the
Cal mascot and instead suggested a martian or a
unicorn. That's when Brown conceived the gentle,
hulking polar bear, who listens mutely to Mom's
advice.
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