Original Drawings & Model Commentaries:

AIA Drawing # 25
(17 inches X 23 inches)






Mrs. Cecile White (1902) & Jack Vetter  (1934)                                      Omaha, Nebraska                    


Copyright  © 1992 - 2006  Jim Branscum Art Studio
All Rights Reserved 
 

Cecile Pricilla Norris was born March 12, 1902, the oldest of eight children.  She received her education in Indiana and began teaching in 1920 at the youthful age of eighteen.  Three years later, she married Edwin D. White in Norfolk, Nebraska.  Cecile and Edwin were married 63 years at his death in 1986. During World War ll, Cecile was in charge of the Selective Service office in north-central Nebraska.  

During this time, 1944, Mrs. Cecile White also taught elementary students at “The Block School-house” six miles northwest of Bassett, Nebraska. The schoolhouse was a place where Mrs. White molded the early stages of each student’s curious mind.  It was a time when formal address and politeness were taught as a way of life.  Mrs. White taught “Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic,” but the real lessons learned from Mrs. White were how to live thoughtful, honest and productive lives. She taught the students that they have choices in life, and to weigh the consequences of their choices. Some-how, Mrs. White gave each student all they needed to excel in education and life. 

Among her many students was a young boy named Jack Vetter.  Jack took the lessons taught by Mrs. White to heart and did excel in education, in business and life.  The time came for Mrs. White to retire and some years later, the paths of Mrs. White and Jack Vetter again crossed when she required assistance with daily living.  Who would have imagined her former student would be directly responsible for providing that assistance through one of his long term care facilities?  Who would have imagined this special opportunity for Jack Vetter to return the love and care Mrs. White so selflessly offered to him and her students of so many years?   

The story behind this drawing of Mrs. White and Jack Vetter gave me goose-bumps when Jack Vetter first told me about Mrs. White. More than any other drawing in the series, their story most perfectly illustrates the essence of the Aging in America drawing series, to honor the humanity and dignity of America’s elderly, to care for those who cared for us. 

Vetter Health Services began with a single nursing home in 1975 in Fairbury, Nebraska and currently has thirty-two nursing homes.  Each is operated on the belief that the elderly deserve dignity in life.  “Lifetimes of wisdom, experience and spirit are given to us by our elderly. But we have often seen their contributions forgotten and their special needs ignored.  We are determined to give these important citizens a place to feel respected, safe, comfortable and happy in return for what they have given us.”  (Jack Vetter)