John Orsborn, George Rigdon holding his award-winning artwork, and Pat Rigdon, in the CSPM Archives.
Have you read the Colorado Springs Gazette “Back Pages” lately? We hear from many people that it’s their favorite section of the paper. It’s ours too – since a dedicated group of CSPM volunteers ensures that every day you can read a bit about what happened 50, 75, and 100 years ago in the Pikes Peak region.
For instance, John Orsborn, CSPM volunteer, scans the newspapers from 75 years ago and selects one article from each day to be summarized in the “Back Pages.” And, as a fun perk, John recognizes more names of people he knows the longer he works on the project! For instance, when he read the newspaper of March 2, 1951, the name of his friend George Rigdon was listed under the headline, “Seven Junior High School Students Win Regional Art Honors.”
In March 1951, George Rigdon’s watercolor painting was selected as a place-winner at the Colorado Regional Scholastic Art Award Exhibition. George recalled creating the painting at North Junior High School, “I remember the art teacher, Mrs. [Bessie] Eastwood. She just gave you the assignment and gave you a piece of paper. And I think what we were supposed to do is have perspective…it took a while to put the windows in there I bet. I didn’t realize there were that many windows. What got into me to do that, I don’t know.”
Seventy-five years later, the award-winning watercolor now hangs in George’s granddaughter’s home. As for George, he traded in his watercolors long ago and now turns wood as a means of artistic expression. When George Rigdon’s son Pat saw his father’s name in the “Back Pages” section, he contacted the museum. Shortly thereafter, George and John got together in the Starsmore Center for Local History and did a bit of reminiscing and a little art (and history) appreciation.
