His final wish: An art show with his paintings. His Scituate sister is making it come true

SCITUATE − The power of art to bring people together, share family stories, ease difficult times and heal hearts can all be found in an exhibit Serena Shedd Green has created at the Scituate Senior Center.

The catalyst was the loss this past September of her younger brother, Daniel Brundige Shedd, a gentle, kind and generous man who died of liver cancer at age 67 after a two-year struggle. When he received his diagnosis, Daniel chose to spend his remaining time drawing and painting.

"He felt compelled to create," Serena said.

He read books and watched videos about painting and soon was pouring forth pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors. Some showed the Berkshires, a place he had always loved and where he lived with his wife, Pamela, in Lanesboro.

His sister, Stephanie, sent him monthly art boxes filled with materials he hadn't used before. He had weekly Zoom sessions with both sisters, talking about each other's art.

"His very last words to me were, 'Can we please have a show together?'" Serena said. "And I thought this is a great way to make it happen and to honor him.

"This is our family story, three generations of artists in the same family."

She includes works by their late father, George Shedd, a well-known New England watercolor painter who also was a cartoonist with Al Capp in the 1950s.

The exhibit in Daniel's honor can be seen at the senior center's art gallery through February. The opening reception is Thursday, Jan. 18, from 5 to 7 p.m. Many of the works are for sale. Serena plans to use the proceeds to help her late brother's wife, three grown children and their families. There is also a GoFundMe page.

Daniel grew up in Hanover and Cohasset, graduated from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, obtained a master's degree in social work and was a teacher and human services provider, serving disabled and elderly people in his community. He also ran a video game store, Video Empire, in Hinsdale.

The family story begins with their grandfather, Alfred O. Shedd, in New York. A Harvard graduate, he was an editor of children's science books who, in retirement, began painting landscapes in oils. He was largely inspired by his son George. On weekends, father and son enjoyed traveling out into the country together, knocking on farmhouse doors and asking to set up their easels to paint.

Alfred Shedd also wrote "The Want to Know Book" for children, published in 1929. It's filled with answers to fun science questions children might ask such as "Why do some animals sleep all winter?," "What makes an airplane fly?" and "Who invented safety pins?"

George Shedd was born in Yonkers in 1924 and died at age 84 in 2006 in Burlington, Massachusetts. He loved to draw from an early age and was allowed to cover his bedroom walls and ceiling with his art.

After graduating from Waltham High School, where he was editor of the school newspaper, he eventually studied at the Massachusetts College of Art and the Museum School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

In the early days of World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces, taught an art class in one of the Quonset huts, painted a mural for the officers club bar and created service cartoons for the group newspaper.

He and his first wife, Cornelia Adair, of Hingham, met in their high school years and attended art school together. She proved essential when the Post-Hall syndicate asked George to create a cartoon strip named “Marlin Keel,” a marine adventure strip, which ran in the Boston Globe and nationally.

The strip was a series of high seas adventures and ran from 1953-54. It was all hand drawn, and after George drew the strip, Cornelia added the lettering and coloring.

When the cartoon strip ended, George and Cornelia moved to Scituate. George supported his family by selling seascape watercolors at The Welch Co. gift shop on Front Street. He also began selling his landscapes at galleries across New England.

George and Cornelia eventually divorced. George moved to Burlington and taught a watercolor class at the Lexington Arts and Crafts Society for over 40 years.

Serena, who grew up on the South Shore, graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art and became an art teacher in Hull and Hingham. She later taught drawing, cartooning, painting and ceramics at the Fuller Museum in Brockton and the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset and has an art studio at her home.

The show includes some 48 pieces of art, with 18 of Daniel's works, 20 of Serena's, eight of George's and two by Alfred Shedd.

The monthly exhibits in the art gallery are selected by Linda Hayes, director of the council on aging, and the senior center's art exhibit committee members: Esther Maschio, a master printmaker who teaches at the South Shore Art Center; Sue Gallagher, a photographer and artist who is a cousin of the late artist Joanne Papandrea, for whom the art gallery is named; and Elise Russo, an artist who is also affiliated with the South Shore Art Center.

He delights in the w(hole) doughnut history

Wayne Miller, of Hingham, an author who writes the monthly newsletter for the Quincy Historical Society, got a kick out of last week's tale about how the doughnut may or may not have been invented. He emailed:

"Good of you to take on the Hanson Gregory doughnut story with plenty of humor, winks and nods. Your ending with the Camden librarian summed it up nicely. Makes for a great yarn and a fun story. I've read a lot about him and the donut holes but I wholly (holey) enjoyed your angle on it."

Abington's Skinny Pastuszak is back home again at 103

There is good news about Pat "Skinny" Pastuszak, of Abington: He was able to return home a few days after he turned 103 in a Brockton rehabilitation center. Pastuszak has been receiving plenty of help from his son and neighbors and friends to be able to remain in the house he built in 1951 and shared with his late wife, Veronica, for 75 years. Congratulations and best of luck!

Reach Sue Scheible at sscheible@patriotledger.com.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Scituate artist honors brother in Shedd family show at senior center