Loran Smith: Art and war feature in UGA's 'greatest love story ever told'
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, Tenn. – A most extraordinary couple lives in this affluent mountain town where spring flowers and autumn leaves offer inspiration that would captivate daydreamers, sentimentalists, Pollyannas, artists and poets.
It is noted for the best in year-round living, but in spring and fall, its rarefied air peaks to bring about a splendor that is unsurpassed. It was the perfect setting for Joe and Rachel Decosimo to raise their nine children in an environment that connected with faith, hope and charity,
The “Sound of Music” could have been filmed here. The Golden Rule could have been authored from the Cumberland Plateau. Nature is respected here with pause and without retreat.
I have been invited for a respite with the Decosimo clan hierarchy and to hear the story of how they met and how they flourished in a time when guns were for police, the military, and for hunting; school systems were not broken, politicians were respected, and newspapers flourished.
Let’s get ahead of ourselves for a moment and capsule the lives of Joe and Rachel. They met, fell in love at first sight, and lived happily ever after. Today, he is 98 and she is 96.
Between the bookends of their long and remarkable lives, a heartwarming story thrives and will never lose its luster.
The chronicling of the script will remain an enduring enlightenment of what is, perhaps, the greatest love story ever told in University of Georgia annals.
Rachel Sharp was a beautiful, talented artist from Chattanooga when she was awarded a scholarship to Georgia to study art under the legendary Lamar Dodd, renowned artist and longtime head of the university’s art department.
Joe Decosimo was the son of an Italian immigrant who had settled in a town near Pittsburg, becoming a coal miner. Joe joined the U.S. Navy and was stationed in Athens before being assigned for duty in the Pacific aboard the USS Massachusetts. He played (horn) in the band, which was why he was sent to Athens, initially. After the war, he returned to Athens with which he was smitten on his first stay in what was to become known as the Classic City.
When Joe was discharged from the Navy, he hitchhiked to Athens and sought to enroll at UGA but was denied. The lady, a Mrs. Smith, with whom he boarded when he arrived the first time, took him to see the legendary Dean of Men, William Tate, who explained that there were no dorm rooms available for any more students.
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“He will live at the Smith house,” she pointedly told the dean who allowed Joe to enroll. Good Karma would continue to follow Joe, but never so dramatically as it did when he showed up in French class a few days later.
That is when Rachel Sharpe saw him for the first time. He was Catholic and she was protestant, but love won out and nothing but good news has followed them all the days of their lives. “Joe’s chiseled Italian profile caught the artist eye of my mother, and Rachel’s Southern belle charm immediately captivated the young veteran,” Tom, a son said.
As we sat and reminisced with Tom, Fred, and Rosie and a family friend, Stephen Covington who lives across the street from us in Athens, there was a stunning portrait that simply overpowered your emotions. It was Rachel’s self-portrait that she painted for her fiancé after meeting him in French class in 1946.
When Dodd saw Rachel’s self-portrait, he was entranced and suggested that she allow the abstract painting to be placed in an upcoming auction to raise money for the art school. “My mother, acting on her sense of duty, acceded to Mr. Dodd’s request,” Tom says. “Mr. Dodd had specifically chosen my mother’s self-portrait because he knew who the buyer would be — Alfred H. Holbrook, the art school’s benefactor. The New York attorney had selected UGA as his beneficiary after an extensive search ‘because he had found more evidence of genuine art culture in Athens than any university he had visited in the South.’ Mr. Holbrook bought the painting, and it was hung in a place of prominence in his Athens’ home.”
Years later, Tom, a freshman at UGA, called on the aging Alfred Holbrook, wanting to get the painting back into the hands of the Decosimo family. This was 1973, and Holbrook was then 98 years old. Holbrook explained that he would be 99 in November of that year and did not expect to live much longer. “He further explained that upon his death, my father would be notified and for a contribution to the art school, the painting would be his.”
If there is an unforgettable story, this one ranks with the best. Long may it live as a reminder that if you want classic evidence of why America was great, share the Joe and Rachel story with one and all. For sure, they are Great Dawgs and Great Americans.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Loran Smith recounts what he calls the greatest love story ever told at UGA
