FLASHBACK: DEJA VU
Deja vu is an interesting phenomenon! While having lunch with my son, James, at Chuy’s on the corner of 17th and Broadway, the famed Music Row in Nashville, it dawned on me I had been here before. It had been forty years since I was last in this building. Back then, it was a drive-in restaurant where the musicians and management would meet up and head out on bus tours to perform.
Why was this realization relevant to me? It was here forty years ago in this restaurant, midnight to be exact; I waited to board a tour bus with Loretta Lynn. My husband and I had been invited to accompany her on a tour up the east coast to the Virginias. This was the trip that turned our family of three siblings into four by March of 1972. The happy occasion brought a girl whom we named….Loretta Lynn!
For decades, the building remained vacant and an eyesore but today the location is a Chuy’s Mexican Grill. They have done a fabulous job of beautifying the location even keeping the original “drive-in” overhang where customers would pull-up to order. Chuy’s is based out of Texas and had one location here but it is a good thirty minutes away. Now with this new location just around the corner, I can enjoy good food and the very unique Chuys’, “ELVIS SHRINE”.
FLASHBACK: TODAY IN HISTORY, JFK
It was the 22 of November 1963 and I was sitting in our Air Force base theatre in Dreux, France watching the John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart movie, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”. The movie ended, the house lights came on and the theatre manager took the stage to announce that President Kennedy had been shot. Everyone was stunned! We all left the theater dazed and headed to our teen center where hours rolled by as we sat watching the events unfold.
When the time came to work on our yearbook, it was only fitting that the dedication be to President Kennedy. I long ago lost my yearbook but with the help of former classmates, I have obtained this drawing. I drew this portrait of Kennedy when I was seventeen and it was used for the dedication page of our yearbook.
FLASHBACK: ROY ROGERS and HIS INFLUENCE ON MY WORK
At an early age, my interest in drawing began and I illustrated; Cowboys, Indians & characters from the Sunday comics. It was in the sixth grade that a friend asked me if I had ever drawn a real person, I had not so I gave it a try. Some of the school tablets we used had western stars on them, mine had Roy Rogers, no better place to start than with the “King of The Cowboys”. Once, I took that step there was no turning back; drawing realism had just become my favorite subject. I was hooked.
Fast forward to 1994, I find myself with my son James, friend Sally and daughter Bridget, attending the 60th Anniversary of The Sons of the Pioneers in Tucson, Arizona (the last gathering of the original members). But for me there was a special reason for that trip. At the request of good friend, Fred Goodwin, I had just completed a drawing of Roy, Dale, Trigger and Bullet. The drawing had been accepted to become a new print and Roy wanted to meet me.
The morning we were to meet, Roy and Dale came into a private room at the hotel restaurant. After breakfast, James graciously serving as my photographer , and I were escorted in to meet with Roy and Dale. Roy invited me to sit down beside him and I looked into his eyes, which appeared to be twinkling stars. Emotion overwhelmed me and tears started to run down my face. He was talking and I could not seem to get any words out of my mouth. I felt like my whole life was floating by. I found myself sitting with the very first person I had ever drawn that ultimately put me on the road to my career as a portrait artist. It was all too surreal. We had a nice visit and he told me how much he liked the art, saying “it was the best likeness he had ever seen of himself.”
On Saturday November 5, Roy Rogers would have been 100 years old. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet him. He gave us countless movies, television shows, songs and the Sons of the Pioneers.
Below, I share with you some of the art of Roy and the only three pictures to survive that day.
Thanks Roy, and “Happy Trails to You.”
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