George R. Thauer, sketcher
Hyfler/Rosner
By AMY RABIDEAU SILVERS
asil...@journalsentinel.com
Last Updated: Jan. 21, 2003
George R. Thauer never made his living as an artist, but that should hardly
be the measure of an artist's life.
Instead, he drew the faces of the people he watched, often as he rode
Milwaukee County buses or during Sunday services at the Mayflower
Congregational Church.
His subjects usually did not know that they were being drawn. Then Thauer
would rip the pencil portrait from his sketchbook, giving it to the person
whose face had caught his eye.
"He was an artist at heart," said daughter Carolyn Thauer. "In church or on
the bus, ever since I can remember. . . . It was never a profession. It was
just his heart."
Thauer died of lung cancer at his Whitefish Bay home Saturday, less than
four months after being diagnosed and about 30 years after he gave up
smoking. He was 80.
Born and raised in Milwaukee, he was a freshman at the University of
Wisconsin in Madison when the Japanese attacked Pearl Habor. Like many other
young men, he quickly signed up for duty. Thauer served in both the European
and Pacific theaters, often on bridge construction details.
He returned to finish his UW degree.
"Then he went to the Cooper School of Art in Cleveland," said his wife,
Nancy Thauer. "He hadn't majored in art at Madison, but that was always
where his heart was."
The two met in Cleveland, where, fresh out of college, she had started work
as a teacher. They married in 1951.
Thauer worked different jobs over the years, including as an insurance
administrator for the Schlitz brewery. He was still working as he became
ill, most recently doing part-time clerical work for the state Department of
Workforce Development downtown.
Freelance writer Peggy Schulz recalled seeing Thauer sketch people on county
buses, then watched one day as he gave a woman the sketch he had just
finished. At first, the woman didn't seem to know what to think.
"She looked at it and her eyes got huge," Schulz said. "She almost started
crying. You could see she was really touched by it."
Thauer sketches became part of the inspiration for "Sketches From The Bus,"
a regular feature Schulz began writing for the former "City Edition" paper
in 1995. She wrote her first sketch about that anonymous artist on the bus,
later introducing herself and becoming bus-riding friends with Thauer.
"It touches us to have other people remember him the way we knew him," said
his wife. "He liked situations where people would sit still for a while. He
drew all the time, all through service every Sunday. As you can imagine,
there are a good many sketches of our minister."
Thauer always enjoyed writing poetry for family members and for other
occasions, but cheerfully called it "doggerel."
"If someone was leaving the office or there was a special event, he would
write a poem for the occasion and read it to the group," said Tom Hamilton,
a co-worker at the Workforce Development office.
Thauer also remained a loyal member of "The Rover Boys," his boyhood clutch
of friends from Hi-Mount School in Milwaukee.
"They had a corny club song - 'happy-go-lucky, barefoot and free' - though
the versions would change over the years," his wife said. "They sang at our
wedding, and they stayed in touch."
More than anything, though, he was a devoutly religious man, devoted to his
family and his country, Nancy said.
"He was an only child, and his mother died when he was 6," she said. "One of
his great thoughts as he anticipated the end . . . was to be reunited with
his mother in heaven."
In addition to his wife, survivors include daughters Julie and Carolyn; sons
Todd and William; grandchildren and other relatives.
A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. today at Mayflower
Congregational Church, 2500 W. Brown Deer Road. Visitation will be held
after the service, also at the church.
Bill Schenley
> should hardly be the measure of an artist's life.
<snipped>
Now *that* was cool obit. Thanks for posting it.