Personal Narrative

Frances in the 1940s

I was hired to be a verse writer for that first Art department still in the planning. When it was learned that I had been a student at Meinzinger's art school in Detroit, they hired an artist from Hallmark and paid him so much per minute to teach me the art of greeting card design. (He kept careful track of the two-three minutes or so that he devoted to the instruction.)

The department, during my stay, eventually expanded to about nine artists and one or two verse writers.

After several years, I applied to .. and was accepted by .. Rust Craft of Boston, Massachusetts.

Boston was by the ocean ... (My homesick Irish mother, growing up in Bantry, Ireland, all too suddenly, having found herself in rural mid-America, had nourished a deep-seated  longing for the waves and tides in this one of her listening children.)

Gradually, I eased into free-lancing children's books and greeting cards. I married and realized the long-term dreams of my own children. Brian, then Robin, found themselves recipients of elaborately decorated nurseries, one of which, "the Robin Room", was awarded a national first prize award which, conveniently enough, turned out to be a washer and dryer!

My career expanded into new areas .. toys and fabrics, books, cards and whatever! Eventually, writing and illustrating children's books became my prime specialty. I was off and running and, at the same time, chalking up close to a hundred prizes that ranged from cruises to a champagne party for twelve, a diamond watch, etc. etc.!

An increasing divergence of interests unfortunately divided the marriage, re-establishing my independence once again. Brian and Robin, grown and beautiful, went their chosen ways while I continued on with my artistic pursuits.

I eased, almost exclusively, into children's books, winning an Edgar Allan Poe award, and other encouraging reviews and letters assuring me that they were being read and enjoyed by children everywhere.

Feeling secure, after my unsettling change of plans, I satisfied my longing to explore the world with trips to foreign lands ... Ireland...(twice), Peru, Alaska, Europe, England, Japan and all those intriguing places between.

Brian, having grown up close to the water's edge, could not be parted from that most engaging of Nature's elements, so he created a cruise company to operate nearby ... then, in due season, moved from Salem, Mass. to Florida. His beautiful house at the water's edge, that he had a hand in building, remains his home port.

Robin, artistically motivated, began her studies in Syracuse, New York, then moved to the West to pursue her chosen field in depth,.. Albuquerque and, eventually, California. The field of Public Art has treated her handsomely, distributing her beautiful works throughout California and neighboring states. She has build a beautiful studio in the mountains outside of San Diego.

Nearing the close of my inspiring and immensely satisfying life and career, I have settled close t the water .. painting, reading, writing and, ... for the first time, gathering facts of the "new" science, a long-term interest that had simmered engagingly throughout my busy career ... but without the time necessary for pursuance... (I am grateful for all those books I had collected .. knowing, perhaps, that their time would come.)

The world has become bigger and busier than anyone would have guessed. I am saddened to watch much of the freedom and safety my peers and I had known and cherished for most of our lived, slip away. Mostly, we were a trusting people, appreciative of the generosity and kindness that greeted us everywhere. Of course, there were exceptions, but they were a rarity ... never the norm.

Over-population, wars, global warming and more ... Is slaughter and mayhem turning out to be the way the future generations will curb their runaway populations and settle their differences? ... Will the living plane, that is humanity's one and only possible home (at least, as far as we can see into the future) fall short of providing the kind of safety and nourishment we have so long trustingly enjoyed... ? Will human creativity be free to express and enrich the lives of future generations just as it has in the past? ... or, will disaster follow disaster leading to extinction of the once-so-promising planet and its over-confident human race?

And will it, oh, so sadly, have been only the privilege of myself and others gone before me, to have enjoyed this miracle that might be called..., "The Golden Age of Earth"?

—Frances Wosmek