Art is One Way to Learn History
Yesterday our proofreader Dena and I flipped through America the Beautiful page by page, getting it ready for a second printing. Seeing the lesson on “Cowboys, Cattle Drives, Wild West Shows, and Rodeos” again reminded me of sweet memories of friends we knew while our family lived in Urbana, Illinois, from 1985 to 1993. These dear friends are Dr. Tom Carr, his wife Jo, and their three children. Tom was a professor of meat science at the University of Illinois in Urbana. He and his family were part of the church where Ray served as a minister.
Tom grew up on a cattle ranch in Kansas, and Jo grew up in Oklahoma. We southerners enjoyed learning new things from these westerners. For one thing, we learned about meat science, a subject completely outside of our experience. Tom was not only a professor of meat science; he was the coach of the highly successful University of Illinois meat judging team which competed all over the country and even in Australia. We were particularly impressed when the Wall Street Journal published an article about Tom and his U of I team.
As you can imagine, even cookouts at the Carrs were particularly delicious with an actual meat scientist at the grill. Their home reflected their backgrounds, especially the den in their basement which Jo, who is gifted in art, decorated beautifully with a western theme.
In 1993 our family moved back home to Tennessee. A few years later, when Tom retired from the University of Illinois, he and Jo moved home to Kansas. They settled in the small town near where Tom grew up, while continuing to enjoy the family ranch. We and the Carrs have continued to stay in touch. Several years ago, Ray and I enjoyed a visit to their home and ranch in Kansas. Here are some photos I took at the ranch.
While working on that lesson about cowboys, cattle drives, wild west shows, and rodeos, my search for illustrations was disappointing. I was disappointed, I think, because none of the illustrations I could find were nearly as beautiful as a painting that hung over the fireplace in Tom and Jo’s den. Finally, I contacted Jo to see if I could use her painting to illustrate the lesson. She graciously agreed. Isn’t it beautiful?
Jo’s mother Mary Evelyn Trout created it. Mrs. Trout’s mother also painted a little, so Jo is the third generation of artists in her family.
A photo in a newspaper of the 100th anniversary of a cattle drive near Altus, Oklahoma, inspired Mrs. Trout to produce this painting. I am grateful that she captured this important piece of the history of the American West. There are many ways to learn history—and many other subjects; art is one of them.
For every animal of the forest is Mine,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird of the mountains,
And everything that moves in the field is Mine.
Psalm 50:10-11
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the labor of mankind,
So that they may produce food from the earth . . .
Psalm 104:15
