The Adams Family

Jon and Jan Adams were regulars at the bar/restaurant where I work. Every Thursday, they were there right when we open to enjoy Happy Hour and mingle with the other familiar faces we saw every week. Retired, and in their 70s, they had earned a right to live pretty casually, but Jon still worked in the summers. He was a groundskeeper and sometime ranger at a local golf course.

Jon was a Navy Vet and had spent time all over the world and he and Jan spent a lot of their golden years on ships, cruising various parts of Europe and the Caribbean.

Jon had also dabbled in watercolor at times in is life and we talked a lot about painting, though I've still never seen any of his work. :D

One day, last spring, I was touring some battleships and submarines in Fall River, MA with my then girlfriend. It was really cool and I couldn't help but think of Jon. Later that week (might have been the next day, even) I found out Jon had passed away. He lived a good life and was a good man whom I enjoyed talking to.

Jan, his widow, has kept their Thursday tradition alive. She comes to Happy Hour, now with one, or sometimes all, of their three daughters.

In the past, when Jon was alive, it had come up that their daughter Jeannie and her husband were friendly with some Boston athletes, including Pedro Martinez, who is my favorite Red Sox of all time. So I showed Jon and Jan my painting that I'd done of Pedro:

When Jan started coming in with her daughters, it came up that Jeannie knew Pedro and Jan had me show Jeannie the painting. She said Pedro would love it and that she could have it autographed if I wanted. I didn't take it too seriously, because a lot of times people say nice things like that with no intention of following through. Or, maybe they intend to, but life just gets in the way and logistically, it doesn't work out.

But a few weeks later, the subject came up again while Jeannie and Jan were having dinner at my bar and then Jeannie got a FaceTime call from Pedro right then. She even put me on with him for a minute (i was taken by surprise so i didnt say much except to just make a "number 1" symbol with my hand and then point to him). And again, Jeannie offered to have the painting signed. This time, i took her up on it and she came to the restaurant the next night and grabbed the painting and then a day later she and her husband came back, had dinner in the dining room and brought me my painting signed by the greatest pitcher in history with pics of him signing it.

She said he loved it and that he felt like i really nailed his eyes and look. Really, such a nice gesture by Jeannie and Nick and a highlight of my year.

But the story doesnt end there!!

After an illustrious 16 year career in the NFL playing for the premier franchise of the 21st Century and winning 3 Super Bowls, being named to 10 Pro Bowls and 3 All-Pro Teams, Matthew Slater, the greatest special teams player in history, decided to hang up his cleats.

As a retirement gift for their friend Matthew, Jeannie and Nick commissioned me to make a painting. They chose the reference pics and said they'd like to capture the eye-black-crosses that Matthew always wore on his face on game day. But other than that, they left it to me, creatively. I chose to do a monochrome portrait of Matthew in the background, with the silhouette of Gillette Stadium and his 3 Lombardi Trophies, and a color image of him celebrating one of his 3 Super Bowl victories in the foreground.

Im happy with how it came out. I cant thank Nick and Jeannie for the opportunity enough. Cant thank Matthew Slater enough for his inspirational play for 16 seasons. And all of this will always be predicated on meeting the Adamses and being lucky enough to know Jon in his golden years.