John Callear in Blue Suit - I suspect he was gussied up for the occasion of having his portrait painted and would have prefered to have been outside playing.
Herethal Wright in Goat Cart - Moon (aka Maizie or Maisie) had an eye for the offbeat in her choice of subject manner.
Below is a letter from Katherine Burns about the paintings:
Angela Candela,
The oil portrait of the young boy is John Callear and was painted by your grandmother "Maisie" Campbell probably late 1960's as he is about thirteen years old. His father Robert Callear is 88 years old and still resides in East Athens. Mr. Callear remembers your Mother Janice as she was a couple of years behind him in school. He may be able to fill in some gaps concerning your grandparents and your mother.
The goat painting was painted about 1944 and was also done by "Maisie". The goats, Maggie the black one and Mary the white one, were my husband Floyd's when he was a young boy. He had the goats during his elementary school years. Floyd's dad had a wagon and the halter and reigns were made special for the goats. The lady on the wagon is his Aunt Herethal Wright, a sister to Mr. Callear.
My husband and family grew up in East Athens as well as myself and my mother Mary Catlin Sackett. We lived about five houses from your grandparents house which is still as it was when your grandparents lived there. I can remember well your grandparents driving by my parents home in their Model T car. Most people who knew your grandmother knew her as "Maisie". She was the curator of the Spaulding Memorial Museum.
"Maisie" also did a painting of the old East Athens School. It had only about three or four rooms and may have started as a one room school house. She gave that to the East Athens Community Hall where it hung for many years. It now hangs at the Spaulding Memorial Library and Museum in Athens.
Katherine Burns
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