So Long, Mr. Walters
Art • Life • September 14th, 2006I am so completely shocked, this probably won’t be a very well thought-out post…
For some reason I was just reading some of the old comments left on this site, and when I got to the post I wrote about some artists I met at the Utah Arts Festival, for no reason at all, I clicked on the link I have pointing to Dale Walters.
The photo of the artist immediately surprised me because I remembered a different image on his home page. I recognized his face from the five-minute exchange I had with him at his booth, and thought it was a very nice photo. It portrayed Mr. Walters exactly as I remembered was my impression of him: Nice guy, inviting, open to tell me “the secret” of his artistic process… While looking at the photo, I completely missed the big “1952-2006″, but went ahead and read the small text underneath:
“On June 26, 2006 Dale Walters was killed in a highway accident while driving near Glenns Ferry, Idaho.”
And although I only shared five minutes of my life with this person, I was so shocked to know that he died. And then I was even more shocked to realize that he died one day after I posted a little blurb about him… Just the little blurb from a stranger who really liked his art, and talked with him about it just for a tiny while… He was killed just two days after that… Two days after I met him, and for the first time learned about him and his art.
Just the other day I was thinking in bed: What will happen to my web sites the day I die?… Will somebody go and update them to tell the world that I no longer am?… I remembered these thoughts as I read the nice obituary on the home page of Mr. Walters’ site. I loved the two photos that now decorate his home page. I thought it was a beautiful homage to him, and I was glad that somebody let “me” know of the news, because I am sad. And shocked. And I feel for his family and friends.
His art was truly beautiful. If I could have afforded it, I would have bought this piece I saw at his booth, just two days before he was killed on the road.
