Memory Lane in the Cabinets

Before I tell about the painting, I must attend to a little history.

W.C. "Fats" Racicot served as Sandpoint's superintendent of public works after returning from service with the Navy during World War II.

He and his wife Ardis raised horses on North Boyer Road near the Sandpoint airport and just half a mile from where I grew up.  Their farm served as setting to some of Sandpoint's first horse shows.

Before my stepfather Harold Tibbs married my mother, he lived at Racicot's, where he kept his horses.

My mother and Ardis Racicot were friends, off and on, over the years. Ardis lived to be either 101 or 102.

Fats, sadly, died at least 20 years ago after being trampled by one of their horses.

Fats was a photographer. He sold me his large-frame 4 by 5 camera, which he bought from Ross Hall in the early 1950s.

He also sold me most of his black-and-white darkroom equipment.

I dabbled with darkroom work at home over the years but never really had a good set-up to get serious about it.

Later, I sold the 4 by 5 camera to my former student Rocky Kenworthy who now lives in New York and who runs among the greats of New York photographers. I speak with confidence when I suggest that he still has the camera Fats sold me so many years ago.

Now, let's fast forward.

I received a call the other evening from Brian Kramer. His dad Don, a pilot, managed the original Sandpoint Airport, even when the runway ran east and west.

Don and Fats were friends, and some time along the years, someone from the Racicot family gave Don the painting pictured above.

Brian found it among his late father's possessions and wondered if I'd be interested in it.

He was going to advertise it on EBay but figured our family might appreciate having it because of our long association and friendship with the Racicots.

When Brian called, things were pretty hectic, so I put him off and told him to call me Monday.

He did.

Again, things were hectic, so I said to call me later in the week or to take it in to my sister Laurie, who teaches his daughter.

Yesterday while my mother and I went for a drive in Gold Creek and far enough up Rapid Lightning Creek Road to snap a few photos of the Selkirks from our Cabinet Mountain viewpoint, my cell phone rang.

It was Laurie. Brian was standing with her in her classroom with the painting.

When I told her where I was, she told Brian. He just so happened to be coming up Rapid Lightning Creek Road for an errand.

We agreed to meet at the Pack River General Store.

On our drive to the store, Mother remembered an artist from Spokane who used to visit the Racicots. And, she remembered he was a cartoonist. But, she could not remember a name.

Well, we have the painting now, and I thank Brian for his persistence in tracking me down.

This painting definitely captures Fats Racicot, maybe in his 40s or 50s. The Racicots had a horse named Thunder Cloud, and I'm guessing that's the horse in the painting.

Fats also loved to hunt, so the artist chose this setting to do the caricature.

Bottom line on this story, one never knows where a drive down a country road is gonna end up. In this case, it took both Mother and me back to a time long ago in the past.

I just wish I knew the real name of  the artist who called himself "Master Bumbrandt."