October 01, 2012
About 24 people gathered in the town of Arlington, Vt. last weekend to recollect the moments they shared with painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell.
The artist, famous for capturing Americana, lived in the southern Vermont town from 1939 to 1953 and placed about 300 subjects from the area in his iconic settings, according to the Associated Press. Around 70 area residents are still living.
The Rockwell models met at the Norman Rockwell Exhibition in Arlington, which owns a collection of prints of the artist’s Saturday Evening Post covers and other memorabilia. Other such reunions have taken place in Stockbridge, Mass., where Rockwell settled after moving from Arlington and the site of the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Among those present at the reunion were Paul Adams (67), who sat for Rockwell after taking a cab from Cambridge, N.Y. His compensation for the gig was $5, while the artist covered the young boy’s travel expenses, reported the Bennington Banner. James "Buddy" Edgerton (82), who lived next door to the Rockwells and wrote the memoir "The Unknown Rockwell: A Portrait of Two American Families," sat for his neighbor several times as a Boy Scout.
When painting his subjects, Rockwell "made you feel you were the most important person in the world," Edgerton told the AP.
