Baylor University Mourns Passing of Baylor Bear Mascot Judge Sue “Lady” Sloan

WACO, Texas (BAYLOR) - Baylor University bear mascot Judge Sue Sloan, known as “Lady,” beloved sister of the late Judge “Joy” Reynolds and cherished member of the Baylor Family, passed away peacefully today surrounded by her loving and dedicated caregivers, staff and veterinary team. Lady was 23.

One of Baylor’s treasured American black bears, Lady – along with her sister, Joy – will forever be remembered as enduring symbols of Baylor’s spirit and tradition. The sisters are the longest-tenured pair of bear residents in the history of the Bear Habitat, firmly establishing the University’s commitment to the program’s three pillars of stewardship, education and conservation.

Lady will be cremated and permanently honored – along with Joy – in a planned on-campus memorial to the legacy of the past, present and future members of the Baylor Bear Habitat.

“Miracle Bear”

Lady also was well known to the Baylor Family as the “Miracle Bear,” overcoming two health challenges in 2019 and 2020 through the love and care of her Bear Habitat student caregivers and staff and the medical expertise of her veterinarians at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. Her strength and resilience through successful groundbreaking treatments have left a legacy of veterinary care that will benefit future generations of bears and other animals.

Specifically, the radiation treatment and surgeries provided by her veterinarian team in 2019 and 2020 are believed to be the first ever conducted on a black bear, serving to educate veterinarians around the world on the use of stereotactic body radiation therapy and TomoTherapy to treat difficult tumors.

For the Baylor Family, Lady’s nearly five additional years were never taken for granted.

After Joy passed away on July 18, 2022, Lady continued to receive the world-class supervision and protection of her caregivers in the Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat, which is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Dubbed the “Queen,” Lady loved her time in the habitat and continued to enjoy the daily visits of hundreds of students, families and campus visitors.

In May 2023, Lady “graduated” from the campus habitat to her well-deserved retirement home: a private, auxiliary facility fully maintained by her Bear Habitat caregivers, staff and veterinary team, while new cubs Indy and Belle were introduced to the on-campus habitat.

With an older bear and two cubs to care for, the Bear Habitat fully staffed and funded two dedicated caregiver teams, one focused on providing full dignity and grace through end-of-life care for Lady and the other dedicated to the growth and development of Indy and Belle.

In her golden years, Lady also made time for special visits back to the Williams Bear Habitat, especially during Homecoming in 2023 and 2024.

These were cherished moments as she was reunited with her caregivers, fans and previous trainers.

Active, curious, mischievous, energetic

Lady was born Jan. 31, 2002, at West Coast Game Park in Bandon, Oregon. From the moment she joined her sister at Baylor as a rambunctious 5-month-old cub, Lady captured the hearts of Baylor students, alumni, faculty and staff and more than 250,000 campus visitors a year. Lady loved visits from schoolchildren from throughout Central Texas, who shared in the thrill of meeting Lady and Joy and learning about the Bears’ unique mission of stewardship, education and conservation.

With her sister named after Baylor First Lady Joy Reynolds, wife of Baylor’s 11th President Herbert H. Reynolds, Lady also shared a name with another Baylor First Lady, Sue Sloan, wife of Dr. Robert B. Sloan Jr., Baylor’s 12th president.

In June 2002, Lady arrived on the Baylor campus with her student trainer, Adam Ylitalo, B.S. ‘04, with the bear cub making a memorable first impression on the Sloan family.

Formally introduced to her namesake at Allbritton House, the president’s home on the Baylor campus, the “very active, very curious, very mischievous and energetic” cub frolicked on the front lawn and downed a few bottles of special zoological formula before practicing her impressive climbing skills on a Live Oak tree. She was an expert tree climber nearly all her life.

As Lady was growing as a Baylor Bear, she and Joy were slowly introduced to one another, with their student trainers building up their interactions over a seven-month period before they were fully placed together in their campus home, the Steve Hudson Memorial Bear Plaza, in 2003. The sisters were an inseparable pair from that moment on.

A new home

Just two years later at Baylor Homecoming, Lady and Joy celebrated with hundreds of students, alumni and donors as the University officially dedicated their new home, the Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat.

Lady loved exploring all corners of the greatly expanded facility, which provided a natural environment with two separate yards for roaming and enrichment, along with trees, two pools, a stream and waterfall, two caves and a den. It was there that Lady and Joy could be found playing together, swimming in their pools, napping in the shade and foraging for their favorite treats. Lady was particularly fond of apricots and peanut butter as a special treat.

She also loved her weekly trips with Joy away from campus to a large enrichment facility where she roamed, climbed trees and enjoyed additional exercise and “goal-based” enrichment. Lady loved all the activities strategically planned by her student caregivers that encouraged vertical movement, foraging and digging, heightened and stimulated her sense of smell and sense of sound or acted as puzzles and toys, which strengthened her prolonged focus and more.

Lady also excelled at “voluntary vet care,” where she learned natural behaviors that allowed her veterinarian to check her teeth, muscles and other important aspects of her physical health, which reduced the stress of yearly vaccinations or exams and reduced the need to rely on anesthesia or invasive measures to conduct routine care.

Both Lady and Joy carried fur that ranged from cinnamon brown to jet black depending on the season, even gaining internet fame for the annual Baylor Bear Fur Tracker that tracked their transitions into their sleek black summer coat. This also could prove to be challenging at times to tell who Lady was and who was Joy.

However, there was a way Baylor fans could tell the difference by observing another of the Bears’ natural behaviors – a move that simulated fans’ traditional “Bear Claw” hand signal paired with Baylor’s “Sic ‘em, Bears” cheer. When the Bears raised their paw in a Sic ‘em, as bears do naturally when reaching for berries in trees, Lady was the one with her left paw proudly in the air.

Lady and Joy were instrumental in spreading the Baylor spirit and supporting all of Baylor’s teams through their growing social media presence on Instagram, which included their popular gameday picks (always Baylor!). Lady and her sister also made numerous national TV appearances on ESPN, FOX Sports, CBS and even on “Jeopardy!” as a question (correctly answered!).

Golden years

In 2020, as the world and the Baylor campus changed dramatically as COVID-19 began to spread across the country, Lady and Joy teamed up with their student caregivers to bring happiness and hope to the Baylor Family and beyond. The Bears sent thousands of encouraging postcards to friends and families across the globe and offered a variety of virtual educational programming, like the weekly “Joy & Lady’s Cub Club,” to engage kids (and kids at heart!) in bear-themed activities and more when visitors couldn’t physically visit the Habitat.

As Lady and her sister entered their later years, their student caregivers modified all trainings, enrichments and diets according to the recommendations of the Bears’ veterinary care team to reflect the care they would need in their unique stages of life. Lady loved mealtimes with her sister as the Bears enjoyed diving into their specially formulated omnivore diet and raw protein sources like fish, supplemented with fruits such as oranges, grapefruit, coconut, apples and peaches in the morning and vegetables such as lettuce, carrots, sweet potatoes and avocados in the evening.

Lady and Joy also never missed an opportunity to celebrate their January birthdays at the Williams Bear Habitat with a party that brought hundreds of students and Bear fans to campus to enjoy cake and special treat, like “Joy & Lady’s Favorite,” a grapefruit and honey-flavored ice cream from Heritage Creamery created in honor of their birthdays and inspired by some of their favorite foods.

Lady was predeceased by her sister, Joy, and two brothers in California, including one who was an actor that appeared in multiple films and television productions. She also is survived by dozens of Baylor student caregivers within the Baylor Chamber of Commerce, who dedicated themselves to providing Lady with the very best care for nearly 25 years, seven days a week, 365 days a year, including between semesters, on major holidays and regardless of weather conditions.

Baylor University extends its deepest gratitude to the student caregivers and staff of the Baylor Chamber of Commerce and the veterinarians at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in College Station for their dedication to the care of our Bears and their genuine love for Lady and her quality of life.

Memorial contributions

Memorial contributions to honor Lady’s memory and legacy can be made to the Bear Habitat/Mascot Fund at baylor.edu/bear. All donations will support the continued enhancements to the Bill and Eva Williams Bear Habitat, benefiting current Bears Indy and Belle and the future generations of Baylor’s Black bear ambassadors.

Opportunities to celebrate and honor the life and legacy of Lady will be announced later this year. Cards and letters may be sent to Baylor Bear Habitat, One Bear Place #97074, Waco, TX 76798-7185.

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