Wallace “Wally” K. Lawson

Wally was born March 27, 1923, in Warren, Pa., and grew up in Sherman, N.Y., where he ran the bowling alley in the 1940s. His parents, Arthur and Margaret Lawson, ran the grocery. In interviews over the years, he told journalist and Sherman native, Paula Brookmire, how he was drawn to art. “My grandmother, Clara Hoskin of Warren, Pa., painted and played the piano. I used to watch her paint. I think some of her talent rubbed off on me. I started out in music, playing trumpet for the Jamestown Symphony when they began. I didn’t really get into painting till after high school. I started out in oils but later switched to watercolors. I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for commercial art, then attended the Kachina School of Art in Phoenix for two winters. I was trying to make a living in the fine arts, but I was just breaking even. Then I took a watercolor course from Edgar A. Whitney, 93, who was internationally known and probably the best watercolor teacher in the world. He taught at New York City’s Pratt Institute. He did landscapes. We’d go to places to paint, then hang our pictures on the wall for his critique. He didn’t mince words, but you need to learn that. Whitney died in 1987 at age 96.”

For nearly 30 years, Wally worked as a commercial artist for the William K. Larson Ad Agency, Jamestown, N.Y. Off work, he continued painting and selling fine art. His art has appeared in the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, N.Y., the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, the Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona and the Annual Jury Show at Chautauqua Institution, N.Y. (for 25 years). He won numerous art awards, and his paintings hang in private collections worldwide. He donated artworks to his church (Trinity United Memorial in Erie), Sherman Central School and other venues. His artwork ranged from realistic portraits to surrealist paintings, landscapes to Andrew Wyethlike interiors.

Fans of country music, Wally and wife, JoAnn, moved to Nashville, Tenn., when he retired, then moved to Erie, 15 years later. Both very religious, they were active at church. Meanwhile, he continued painting. His art was in the newsletter at LECOM Senior Living Center, where Wally lived after JoAnn died in 2014. Wally and his art were celebrated in August 2021 at the opening of a LECOM Center in Corry, Pa.

Wally is survived by his nieces: Joni (Scott) Sitler, Charlotte, N.C., and Jacqueline (the late David) Mann, Kansas City, Mo.; nephews: Troy, Todd and Trent Lawson; stepson, Wilbur Shepard, Erie; longtime family friends, Paula Brookmire, Milwaukee, Wis., and Cherie Stephenson, Panama, N.Y.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, JoAnn Shepard Lawson; his brother, Ned Lawson; and sister, Joan (Jack) Potter.

Services are planned for Spring of 2023. Funeral arrangements were handled by the Dusckas Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc., 2607 Buffalo Rd.

Condolences may be sent to www.dusckasfuneral home.com.