Tom Runnels
Individual
Paintings, sculptures, books and artifacts of life of Tom Runnels.
It is difficult to find a story about Tom that has not been written.
After two books and 20 years of weekly writings, not much is left tell.
Just about all of the hilarious and not-so-hilarious incidents in our 40 years together have been subject matter for his stories.
Tom left high school in 1951 to join the air force. He promised his mother that he would finish high school in service and he did go through the GED program. When he returned in 1955 he enrolled in SEMO and then later went to Kansas City Art Institute. Tom was dyslexic and had difficulty with reading. He told me once that he was unable to read the bulletin board in service well enough to get instructions. In Kansas City the registrar discovered that there was no record of him completing the GED program, and they denied him readmission in 1957 until he could produce a high school diploma. He returned home, enrolled in high school and graduated with me and his brother, Don, in 1957. Of course, he was very glad to back in Bollinger County. He could hunt, trap and fish which was then and always his love along with his sculpture.
He later went to work in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I went to college in Springfield, Missouri. We married in 1961 and lived in Fredericktown for a year where we both worked, and then he decided to try to return to Kansas City to finish his degree. It was there that his dyslexia really became a problem since he had to take some academic courses that required a lot of reading. This was very stressful and difficult for him. But it was also there that his future in the arts was determined – he took a job in the sculpture studio under quite a remarkable instructor named Dale Eldred. Instead of a future of teaching painting in a college, he was introduced to a new possibility – combining his metal welding training in the air force with his ability to work three dimensionally. Sculpture became the new passion.
Because of the problems with the academics, Tom did not stay. We came home at the end of the year. Something happened in this experience that changed his whole course of direction. He told me once about one of the art courses that opened up totally new concepts in composition. I really never understood what that was, but it was enough to convince him that he had what he came for and he really did not need the degree. He decided to come back to Bollinger County, build his studio and go from there. Of course, hunting, fishing and trapping ran a very close second to building sculpture.
By 1963 we had built a place in town which is next to the Chevrolet dealership. In 1970 we moved to the Cat Ranch and lived there until 2000 when Tom died. Everyone who knew Tom knows how much he loved that place. Sculpture, the Cat Ranch and the woods were his life and this never changed. There is probably nobody who was ever born in Bollinger County who loved it there more than he did. He only left it for frequent visits to the local “watering holes” and a weekly visit to Wal Mart. He isn’t doing that anymore, but he is still up on the hill checking out the wildlife and enjoying the colorful leaves in the fall which was probably his favorite season.
It is difficult to find a story about Tom that has not been written.
After two books and 20 years of weekly writings, not much is left tell.
Just about all of the hilarious and not-so-hilarious incidents in our 40 years together have been subject matter for his stories.
Tom left high school in 1951 to join the air force. He promised his mother that he would finish high school in service and he did go through the GED program. When he returned in 1955 he enrolled in SEMO and then later went to Kansas City Art Institute. Tom was dyslexic and had difficulty with reading. He told me once that he was unable to read the bulletin board in service well enough to get instructions. In Kansas City the registrar discovered that there was no record of him completing the GED program, and they denied him readmission in 1957 until he could produce a high school diploma. He returned home, enrolled in high school and graduated with me and his brother, Don, in 1957. Of course, he was very glad to back in Bollinger County. He could hunt, trap and fish which was then and always his love along with his sculpture.
He later went to work in Little Rock, Arkansas, and I went to college in Springfield, Missouri. We married in 1961 and lived in Fredericktown for a year where we both worked, and then he decided to try to return to Kansas City to finish his degree. It was there that his dyslexia really became a problem since he had to take some academic courses that required a lot of reading. This was very stressful and difficult for him. But it was also there that his future in the arts was determined – he took a job in the sculpture studio under quite a remarkable instructor named Dale Eldred. Instead of a future of teaching painting in a college, he was introduced to a new possibility – combining his metal welding training in the air force with his ability to work three dimensionally. Sculpture became the new passion.
Because of the problems with the academics, Tom did not stay. We came home at the end of the year. Something happened in this experience that changed his whole course of direction. He told me once about one of the art courses that opened up totally new concepts in composition. I really never understood what that was, but it was enough to convince him that he had what he came for and he really did not need the degree. He decided to come back to Bollinger County, build his studio and go from there. Of course, hunting, fishing and trapping ran a very close second to building sculpture.
By 1963 we had built a place in town which is next to the Chevrolet dealership. In 1970 we moved to the Cat Ranch and lived there until 2000 when Tom died. Everyone who knew Tom knows how much he loved that place. Sculpture, the Cat Ranch and the woods were his life and this never changed. There is probably nobody who was ever born in Bollinger County who loved it there more than he did. He only left it for frequent visits to the local “watering holes” and a weekly visit to Wal Mart. He isn’t doing that anymore, but he is still up on the hill checking out the wildlife and enjoying the colorful leaves in the fall which was probably his favorite season.
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