I was in Corpus Christe, Texas working for a small independent oil and gas company, sitting at my drafting table trying to come up with an oil well drilling location when Marian, my secretary, buzzed me.
"Richard, there is someone from the State of Texas Welfare Department on the phone. She said it's important."
"Tell her I'm not interested. I've got to come up with a drilling location before John comes in, and I'm bogged down."
"Okay, Richard. I'll tell her to call back later...when you're not here."
"Yes, that sounds fine," I mumbled.
"Damn!" there's the intercom again. "What now, Marian?"
"The lady said she must speak with you....right now."
"Okay but hold any other calls, until I get finished with picking this location."
I'm shaking my head as I punched the phone Line One Button.
"This is Richard Mason. What can I do for you," I snapped.
"Mr. Mason this is Elouise from the Texas Welfare Department, and we have a baby girl for you."
"What?" My mind was just racing, and then I remembered that Vertis and I had applied to adopt a baby about eight months ago and a few weeks back had a home visit from the agency. I was speechless, and could only mumble, "Uh, uh, well, uh,...well when can we see her?"
"How about eleven thirty, and you should come prepared to take her with you and Mrs. Mason when you leave."
"Today?" I'm almost speechless.
"Yes, I'll have her in my office."
"Okay....."
"Fine, I'll see you at eleven thirty."
I'm off my drafting stool almost running to the outer office where our receptionist is sitting.
"Marian! The Welfare folks have a baby for us!" I yelled.
I dashed back into my office and quickly dialed Vertis.
"Vertis the Welfare Department just called and the have a baby girl for us!" I yelled.
"I'll be by to get you in ten minutes!"...."Can't talk...see you...by"
Well, I made the trip across the bridge from Corpus Christ to Portland in record time, and after a quick stop to pick up some diapers and baby formula, we walked into the Welfare Office. We didn't even sit down when the receptionist ushered us into the head office and thirty seconds later the head of the local department walked in with our six-week-old baby girl.
"Here's your baby, Mr. Mason
Well, Vertis's mother instincts took over, and she pushed me aside to take the baby. We had already settled on the name Lara, and yes, the movie Dr Zhivago with the heroin named Lara may have had an influence on the name.
From what we learned about Lara's birth family, there was nothing to indicate Lara would have any special abilities. However, her artistic ability was evident as soon as she began to color in a child's coloring book. She always stayed within the lines, and as she began to draw on her own, the objects didn't look like a three-year-old scrawling. By the time she was five her little writing pad was full of figures, which she would draw and then color. I was reading the Corpus Christi Caller-Times one morning when I noticed the paper was holding a Youth Art Contest, and I asked five-year-old Lara if she would like to enter.
"Sure "she said," a day later she turned in a "Cowardly Lion" black and white ink drawing. She won the contest.
Lara's imagination was always part of her drawing, and when she was in school, all the way through high school, she turned out imagination "monsters" by the dozen. As she approached High School Graduation, Vertis and I wanted to encourage her artwork, and we checked out numerous top Ivy League Schools. Lara was accepted by Pratt, Parsons Art Institute, and Rhode Island School of Design. But after a visit to several of these schools, Lara was turned off by the hectic urban atmosphere, and turned them down. Lara finally settled on the "back home" University of Texas but was immediately rejected because an out-of-state student needed to have a high SAT score. However, Lara put together a portfolio of her work, and not only was she accepted, but was awarded a scholarship. Yes, as an Arkansas Grad, I choked, but off to Austin she went.
Her artwork in college featured some of the most realistic works of art I have ever seen, and her nudes, part of an art class project, almost made you blush. It was obvious that Lara was and is an ultra-realist artist. Her work is almost photographic in nature. Of course, Lara has done several pen and ink sketches of her immediate family and other related individuals. Each sketch is like a time capsule and a wrinkle or slightly crooked nose is going to show up.
When Lara left the University of Texas, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico with the idea that she would be a part of a thriving art community. However, the Western--New Mexico style that most of the artists in New Mexico produced didn't fit her concept of art.
She married, and after two children and a divorce, moved back to Arkansas. She is now the Manager of the Downtown Guest Quarters Hotel. She has had a showing at the South Arkansas Arts Center, and still does art such as local posters for Main Street El Dorado, and always does our Christmas Card.
Lara is renovating an old freestanding garage beside her house into a studio, and we are optimistic she will get inspired and start turning out more art. For some reason I believe this relucent artist with a ton of talent is going to explode on the art scene eventually. I just hope it is soon rather than later because I'm not getting any younger.