SURPRISE!

This was just the exact response I was hoping for!!!

Last night we had a fun family Christmas get together and I had a surprise for Paul and his two sisters, Kalita and Karol Jean! It has a fun story to go with it -- Last week, Kalita's daughter Kylee came home from China where she has been nannying for Heidi. She brought along a lot of stuff that Heidi sent to us. We got Christmas presents and Christmas cards and a few requests for errands to do for her.
One of the errands was to deliver a package to a printing company here for her new scrapbook products. I knew it was very important and needed to be delivered ASAP. When I got to the company I wanted to "hand deliver" the package to the person who was expecting it instead of just leaving it with the receptionist so I was told to wait in the reception area while they located the person I needed.

The reception area was very nice and had a lot of art work and display cabinets of their publications so while I waited I started to browse around. After perrusing 2 display cabinets, I came to the second shelf in the 3rd cabinet and my eyes came across a book entitled
"The Art of Joseph S. Venus". I was shocked for a minute... I know Joe Venus! I asked the receptionist if she would get the book out of the cabinet for me to look at. When she handed the book to me and I quickly leafed through the pages, I found what I thought I would... paintings of Paul's father!!!

Back many, many years... back in the 80's, Paul's father worked with Joe Venus in the graphic arts department of the Church's magazines (the Ensign and Liahona). In fact, Joe was his boss. Both Joe and Paul's dad were artists but Joe actually did alot of artwork and Howdy was still waiting for "more time" to begin doing the artwork he always dreamed of doing. Somehow, someway Howdy began modeling for Joe's artwork. Joe began a series of paintings featuring a crusty, rough old cowboy named Howdy. These paintings became very well known and popular. Soon they became the covers and features in the "Days of '47" rodeo programs for the rodeo held in Salt Lake City each summer during the July 24th celebrations. (July 24th is a holiday in Utah -- it commemorates the pioneers arriving in the Salt Lake valley on July 24th, 1847 -- also called Pioneer Day) Soon the tradition included Howdy dressing up as this cowboy and attending all the rodeo events at the Salt Palace and signing the programs for admiring fans -- fans of Joe's artwork and of cowboy Howdy! Paul's dad absolutely loved this part of his life and embraced this persona.

Joe had included 4 paintings in this stunningly beautiful book of his artwork. I knew I had to give a copy to Paul and his sisters. The publishing people gave me Joe's phone number and I called him immediately! He knew who I was when I told him my name. I told him the reason I was calling and asked where I could get copies of this book. He told me that he had published this book privately -- 200 copies and that he had 15 left! He graciously agreed to sell me 3! I arranged to go to his house the next day and pick them up. I spent a precious hour sitting in his home as he entertained me with stories of how and why he published this book.

His wife died of cancer about 18 months ago and as a tribute to her support and dedication to his artwork, he published this book. He spoke so tenderly of his love and marriage and life with his sweet companion... he has struggled with his loss and his lonliness. It was such a priviledge to hear his intimate feelings and stories. He autographed each book for Paul and his sisters with a tender tribute to his sweet Shirley.

It isn't often that I can pull together a very unique and meaningful gift so this was really a rewarding experience and a fun surprise with just the exact response I was hoping for! You can see the two paintings we own in the post below.