Art and Grace Johns were good friends of my aunt and uncle, Bill and Gen Lerche. We had the chance to meet them when we were young. Many of you remember Art as a show painter who painted above all the cages at the Kelly farm / Terrell Jacobs barn.
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I drove the "gilley" stion wagon and made trips vall day in and out of qtrs. They had all of Terrel Jacobs shifting boxes out on the grass on a nice spring day band Art was lettering them. I noticed the lettering on a trip in and about 9 or ten had already been done in big letters and I noted TERREL JACOBS LIONS AND TIGES. i STOPPED AND POINTED IT OUT TO ART AND HE SAID, "oH, SHIT" eND OF STOREY. hE WAS VA GOOD GUY AND LIKED BY EVERYONE. I think later he became County Sheriff. johnny
Amazing coincidence!
I have a circus wagon Art Johns built for my parents in early ‘70s. Each time I dust it I Google for more info about it and yesterday’s search for “Art and Gracie Johns” brought me to your blog a day or so after you posted about them.
We lived in Chili, Indiana (near Peru) until 1963. The Johns lived nearby and I have a few memories of visiting their home there. After we moved to Florida, they visited us several times. I remember drawing squiggles and Art could turn them into a character or drawing. He also did chalk talks for my sisters and our friends.
I might have been away at school when they brought the circus wagon to us. I remember hearing they stopped at a circus museum along the way to Miami and someone there saw my parent’s first wagon and offered to buy it. They sold it (I think to the museum) and went home and built another one for my parents.
I took a few quick photos of it and posted them here along with scans of some correspondence I have:
http://smallhotels.com/circuswagon/
Great blog! I’m looking forward to more pix and info about happenings in Peru in the coming days.
Jane
jane@smallhotels.com
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