Eric Mohn...

In late Spring/Early Summer 1994, I was serving an LDS Mission in the town of Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania.  It was my last area and I would be going home soon.  I was a Saturday Morning and my companion and I were walking down Main street.  There was a Street Fair of sorts going on and we were somewhat looking around at the different booths and seeing what was going on, along with contacting people and heading off in the general direction of where we were going to be working for the day. When all of the sudden we heard a voice say "Elders!".  Of course, hearing that we stopped and spoke to the young man.  As it turned out, he was also LDS and had somewhat recently returned from a mission (Arizona, I think).  He was from Maryland and was there selling the paintings of an artist, Eric Mohn, who (if I remember correctly) was was his step-father and a quadriplegic. Eric painted with the brush in his mouth.  He had been injured in an accident many years ago and I remembered thinking how remarkable it was that he was able to paint such beautiful paintings.  Many of them were of scenes that I had grown to love during my time in Pennsylvania.  He had painted Amish scenes and of countrysides and many others. After a few minutes of speaking with this young man, he insisted that he give us each a painting.  So we each picked one out.  I brought mine home with me and for years, I kept it stored away until I could get it framed and hung. It now hangs in my bedroom, but I'm getting ready to move it to my new completed office in my basement.  I've occasionally kept track of Eric's work on his website www.ericmohn.com and a couple of years ago, my wife purchased another of his paintings for me. Now that my office is completed, I'm getting ready to have it framed and will hang it near the one that I was given all those years ago. There's another couple of them on Eric's site that I've recently found that I'd like to have and to hang in my home, and I hope to purchase them soon.  Sadly, while browsing his site recently I found this small addition to the About the Artist section: "Sadly, Eric passed away suddenly Nov. 25th, 2008 of complications stemming from his longtime paralysis." If you get a chance, check out his site.  I think that my next purchase will be "Father's Farewell".