Remembering My Grandfather's Artwork

This month I am highlighting the artwork of my grandfather, Harry Atwell, and hopefully have gathered for the first time most of the known paintings into one area.  A number of people hold pieces of Grandpa's work, my Dad and Aunt as well as myself and my brother, and over the years I have been able to photograph each of them.  Hopefully, by posting the art, more pieces will be revealed by other family members and can also be added to this collection.  I'm delighted to share it with you all now and it can be found under the Atwell Family page.

Thoughts of Chrismases Past

Both sets of grandparents (Red & Anne Hiller, above) have a special place on the Christmas tree each year.

As a child, every holiday season my parents would pack the station wagon with children, luggage and Christmas gifts and brave the eight hour journey from Michigan to our grandparent's home in Milwaukee.  My Dad would wake us early, carry our pajama-clothed bodies to the warmed car and nestle us into cozy sleeping areas he made for each of us.  No seat belts back then just comfort and, yet, somehow we managed to survive the trip. Not too far into the trip my Mom would open a thermos of coffee which instantaneously wafted throughout the vehicle.  Each year, I would ask myself and sometimes even out loud "

Am I old enough to drink coffee out of that red thermos cap while driving to Milwaukee?"  

And the answer was always "kids don't drink coffee".  WELL....someone failed to inform my Grandma because   upon arrival she would let me pour the Carnation Evaporated Milk from a can in the refrigerator into her hot, black cup of coffee, the creamy white swirls entrancing me and when she deemed the coffee "cool enough" I would get a sip.  I decided waiting for Grandma's brew was much more satisfying anyway.

Harry & Marie Atwell.

Christmas Eve was always reserved for Dad's side of the family, usually held at his brother's or sister's home.  Christmas Day was celebrated with Mom's side Grandpa and Grandma Hiller's and kicked off by attending mass at St. John The Evangelist Church and trying to understand Father Goulet's Slovenian accent.  Both visits were magnificent - uncles, aunts, cousins, gifts, cookies and plenty of laughter and merriment! I only remember two occasions we didn't travel to Milwaukee, once when my siblings and I all had the chickenpox and the other when we were much older and thought we should stay at home.  Both times we were miserable and disappointed we "missed out".  So, I guess the moral of the story is to value our remaining holidays and the time we have left together so as not to feel like we "miss out" ever again.  Merry Christmas! 

Christmas card sent out by my great Grandpa & Grandma Penne, circa 1950's.

My great Grandma's handwriting.  She never learned to speak English, only her native Slovene.

Harry Atwell; Artist, Inventor, Tinker

Harry, date unknown

Harry was born to William and Helena Atwell in Racine, Wisconsin in 1908 and any information regarding his childhood is pretty much non-existent.  However, Harry did talk to his son, Bill, about how difficult life was during The Depression and obtaining food was a difficult task and often times they had to take a wagon to do so.  Once all they had left was canned peaches which was their meal for a full week.  During interviews with his children I have found that they, too, know very little and that the "Atwell's" weren't a close knit family.  I write the last name "Atwell" like this because, well....it's not really our last name!  Harry's father's name was originally William Henry Stone at birth and the Atwell surname was added when William became the foster child of James & Vice Atwell.  He was never officially adopted but he use the last name Atwell but also keeping the name Stone, however, his children including Harry never used the surname Stone.  Again, the circumstances of William living with the Atwell's are unknown and probably the main reason for the lack of information is that William just didn't want to talk about HIS childhood, therefore, his children didn't either.

Harry & Marie, date unknown.

Harry married Marie Willing in 1930, briefly living in Kenosha and Manitowoc before settling in Milwaukee for the remainder of their lives living in rental homes on Elgin Lane, Walker Street before finally fulfilling their dream of owning a home on 35th Street.  They had 4 children Joan, Marlene, William (my father) and Don.

Billy in one of his Dad's hand built rowboats.

My father remembers his father as "a happy person but one who was not happy with his current job and always trying to come up with an idea to improve our life".  The "current job" would have been as an artist/painter of tavern and business signs.  Over the years, his jobs included painting the Liberty Bakery trucks, a picture for a March of Dimes campaign, theatre signs and designing logos for a steel company and Knight's Popcorn (which are still in use today) and printing press operator.  Harry was also an inventor and patent holder of a toy called "Jiggin' Jim, a one man boat loader (my father still has a complete version) and a fishing bait called "The Croaker".  Harry also built small rowboats for children, selling about 8 of them.  His last project was a Model A Ford built to scale and I personally remember riding in this in the alley!  (There is even a photo somewhere that I am trying to locate.)

Harry and his Saturday afternoon catch.

Theatre sign painted by Harry Atwell.

Harry loved to fish, generally heading to the lake every Saturday in the summer and often taking Bill and Don.  However,  Don was diagnosed with diabetes as a child and often was too sickly to attend.  He had the latest equipment, owning some of the first spinning reels on the market and after years of renting a boat, finally built his own, with the help of his sons.  Harry eventually learned taxidermy to mount his own catches and to tie flies for fishing.

Sunday's were generally reserved for picnics and swimming or a trip to visit Marie's family in Racine where Harry enjoyed his extended family.  Harry and Marie also enjoyed playing cards, often inviting the neighbors over while playing bartender and fixing "highballs with powdered sugar" and also dancing - both of them were "light on their feet".

As in life, times were not always great.  About the late 1940's Harry removed his mentally ill mother from a nursing home in Libertyville, Illinois and brought her home to Milwaukee.  While his intentions were 

good, this made a small rental home even smaller, displacing children and putting a large amount of stress on his wife, who already had a full plate with four children, one of which had a serious illness.  

Family Fun.  Clockwise from top: Bill, Don, Jim & Howie (Harry's son-in-laws) and Harry. Back right:  Marie and granddaughter, Kathy, circa late 1950's.

Harry had bouts of heavy drinking and the atmosphere in the house was unstable.  Eventually, after grandma, and then the children, moved out Harry and Marie moved to 35th Street and things improved.  Unfortunately, it wasn't long after that Marie died suddenly and Harry never adjusted to living alone.  Like his mother, he suffered from depression and would never seek help. Eventually he agreed to live in a nursing home something which must have terrified him after seeing the conditions his mother lived in while in a nursing home.  

Harry died in 1985.  I miss him along with all my other grandparents.  I wanted to post these two photos, which I really enjoy.  The one to the right labeled "Family Fun" because my Grandpa is having so much fun and I like to remember him this way and the other labeled "Portrait" because it's the last photo I took of my Grandpa.  He said he thought it was his best.  I'm not so sure, but glad he said so.

Portrait of Harry, circa 1980's.

Grandpa Atwell

Me and my Grandpa Harry Atwell, circa 1963

Sometimes I see a photograph and enjoy it so much that I want to see beyond the edges.  Who else was present?  Where was the photo taken?  Who took the photo?  Seven years ago when my Auntie Marlene first showed me this photo, I immediately wanted to see beyond the edges.  My Grandpa Atwell and I are center in this photograph and my cousin Brad is seated next to me with a cake of his own, we both have birthdays in May.   This is probably my 2nd birthday, 1963, and my Grandma Atwell would have still been alive.  Maybe that's her arm,  moving the cake a little closer to me so I can blow out the candles with my Grandpa's encouragement.

This photo is interesting to me because I don't remember my Grandpa as a particularly happy man but he is clearly enjoying himself here.  I guess this is where I should mention that later in life, he was burdened with mental health issues that were never diagnosed due to his unwillingness to seek help. However, he enjoyed his grandchildren and was always ready with sleight-of-hand tricks involving coins or other objects and my favorite where he would pull his thumb into two pieces.  An artist, inventor and general tinker, he held patents for some of his ideas and with the proper capital,  I believe, would been quite successful.   His story and artwork can be found on the "Atwell" page.