Free Press – May 18, 2006

Calvin Ruth John Smoll

Dear Friends,

Good morning. Today’s topics are the passing of John Smoll, Sr., a Quakertown icon, and an art exhibit, featuring the works of Calvin Ruth at the Richland Library on Saturday, May 20.

Let me begin with one of Quakertown’s most famous residents, John F. Smoll, Sr. who died on April 26. I missed the news of his death and feel badly about it. Fortunately, Charlie Brader at the Palace Barber Shop was on the ball and told me.

Sometimes, an obituary tells the complete story. But not always. John would have approved of his obit…he might even have written it. The obituary told the basics, but not the real essence of the man.

John Smoll was a giant. Even when his legs gave out and he didn’t have the pep and physical strength that I was so used to seeing, John remained bigger than life. At least he did for me. I was just a kid playing sand lot baseball when I first met him. John owned the Sportsman Shop at 4^th and Broad. I bought my first baseball mitt from him. I was ten and he must have been 25.

John’s sister, Hazel, was a nurse at the Tice Clinic. She often tended to my cuts and bruises. Hazel was the mother of one of my friends, Jack Slotter. John Smoll always kept me up to date with Jack’s life in Texas.

John had just returned from World War II and was a fabulous athlete. He was a pitcher with four teams in the minor leagues and used his skills and personality to help found leagues for us kids. The Quakertown Little League, Midget Football League and Connie Mack bear his name. I remember John being inducted to the Pennridge/ Quakertown Sports Hall of Fame.

After he retired from retailing, he joined forces with the Bucks County Park system. I was a young County Commissioner at the time and often saw him working in the parks. John was the essence of the out doors.

Jeanette Smoll, his daughter in law, told me about his particular love of Lake Tohee, one of the county parks in Haycock Township. I hope his friends will plant a tree in his honor. It should be near one of his favorite benches overlooking the lake.

“He was one of a kind,” Jeanette began. John’s sense of humor was legendary. “You were nothing if he didn’t harass you,” she laughed. John Smoll was heavily involved with his community. “He had his fingers into everything,” Jeanette continued, “and he had an opinion about everything.”

His son, John Jr. (“Skeeter”) has many of his father’s attributes. Skeeter understood the importance of giving to the community and served for many years on Quakertown Borough Council.

I talked with John Jr. about his father. “He was an assistant coach for my little league and Connie Mack teams,” John Jr. began. “Our little league team won the District 20 championships.” They may still own that record.

And they went undefeated in the Connie Mack league in 1962. John Jr. remembered his team mates: Tom and Leo Schnalzer, Kent Swartley, Jim Waite, Dick Siwak, Ken Gross, Bill Kemmerer, Tom Hangey, Steve Rehak, Ray Fox and Barry Stull. “Barry [Stull] was the MVP on our Connie Mack team,” John Jr. added.

Five members of the Smoll family belong to the Pennridge/ Quakertown Hall of Fame: John Smoll, Sr. and Jr., Jack (Smoll) Slotter, and Clyde Smoll Sr. and Jr. That may be a record too.

“I was fortunate to grow up with Dad,” John Jr. said. “So many of my friends have told me that Dad was like a second father to them. Dad had a unique sense of humor. He made people smile. A great story teller, Dad could talk with everyone.”

Jeanette admired the relationship between her husband and his father. “They had a relationship I never saw before,” she said. “The bonding John had with his father was so special.”

But she realized that the end was near. “We were watching the Phillies game on TV. They were winning,” Jeanette told me. “But we knew we were in trouble when he closed his eyes during the ball game.”

She spoke highly of the hospice program at St. Luke’s Hospital. “Hospice did fantastic work for us,” she said.

I never thought of John Smoll being old even though he was 85. He had pizzazz…there was so much fun about him. Author Tom Brokaw wrote his best seller about people like John Smoll…they were from the Greatest Generation. Quakertown lost a very special friend.

And now to Calvin Ruth.

Calvin Ruth is a Quakertown artist who deserves tremendous credit. This Saturday (May 20), 50 of his oil paintings, watercolors, and sketches will be exhibited at the Richland Library (between Broad and Juniper Streets).

We all know stories about famous musicians, writers, poets, and painters who didn’t receive proper recognition during their lifetime. For example, consider the life of Walter Emerson Baum who died in 1956. He was a prolific artist who produced thousands of paintings. Unfortunately, they only sold for a pittance during his life. Today, 50 years after his death) his paintings bring $100,000 and more.

Who knows whether Calvin will reach the public acclaim that Baum has? But Calvin Ruth is an excellent painter who deserves serious study. Last week, I saw him at the annual meeting of the Richland Library where some of his work will be displayed. I marveled at the exhibit. Calvin loves landscapes…doesn’t paint portraits. The library is filled with paintings and watercolors from Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh Counties.

Calvin lives in the home that his Grandmother built in 1913. Every room on each floor is filled with his artistic talent. He was the art teacher for the Perkiomen School for eight years before coming to the Quakertown schools. Calvin introduced art to Quakertown’s school children for nearly 40 years.

You’ll see one of his favorite paintings, which he created decades ago. But it’s not for sale. “I was in the library at the Perkiomen School after classes ended,” Calvin began. “The light was just right as I looked at the scene of the New Goshenhoppen Church, the barns, and the one room church school which we called the “Bull Frog Academy.” He smiled.

Calvin graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art, the precursor of the University of the Arts. His father was an artist too.

Calvin paints in the winter. “My garden takes my time in the spring, summer and fall,” he laughed. “This past winter, I painted snow scenes. I just had to get it out of my system.”

I enjoyed his story about his studies with Signa Feenie, a well-known artist. “The two of us would take our cars and drive to a location, set up our easels and paint. She’d paint and I’d paint. Then we’d go our separate ways.”

Calvin was particularly intrigued with a 300-foot covered bridge, which crossed the Perkiomen Creek. He often painted it. “The bridge was so long that drivers had to blow their horns to announce their entrance,” he told me. Unfortunately, the covered bridge was torn down in 1955 to make way for the Green Lane reservoir. (We call this progress.)

Every one of the 50 paintings at the exhibit has a story to tell. So do the thousands of watercolors and paintings resting in his house.

I wish that Calvin Ruth made a million bucks…but I fear that his estate will be the ultimate financial winner. A shame? Absolutely, but that’s the world of art.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith