A couple of months ago, we told the story about Kathy and Jerry’s mutual love of art, and how, when we were at our first Air Force duty station near Omaha, Nebraska, we were introduced to indigenous Indian art by George Catlin at The Joslin Museum. We went from Nebraska to the Air Force Academy where Jerry taught calculus to cadets.
The Mathematics Department then sent us to the University of Texas in Austin for Jerry to obtain his PhD. While at the university, Jerry took a stroll one day, from the campus, down past the capitol building, and on his return, he passed The Country Store Gallery.
On entering, he was mesmerized by the artwork inside. He met a very special person – Carl Barho. who was the Manager, and who became a great friend. Jerry brought Kathy and our two, quite young daughters by to visit soon thereafter, and the gallery became a regular visiting place for us where our daughters would wait patiently for us while we perused artwork and they munched on saltines.
The gallery specialized in Southwestern Art and Cowboy Artists, and it was made famous by one of their prime customers – LBJ. We visited there while we lived in Austin and also in trips through Austin to visit family and friends. Artists represented included Robert Wood, Porfirio Salinas, Barbara Garvin, C.P. Montague, Carl Hantman and Gerald McCann.
