Obituary of George Shedd

Born in Yonkers, New York in 1922, George Shedd spent his early years in New York and moved to Waltham, attending Waltham High School, where he was Editor of the school newspaper. He studied at Cambridge Junior College, 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 Force, signing up for the cadet program. As he said “If I had to go to War, I want to be in the air.” He was finally stationed on the island of Guam as co-pilot flying combat missions to Japan bombing oil refineries. He took part in the last mission to Japan described in Jim Smith’s book “The Last Mission” the night before Hiroshima was bombed. It was six months after the war ended that he would leave Guam. He taught an art class in one of the Quonset huts and filled his time painting a mural for the officers club bar and doing service cartoons for the group newspaper. Returning home he could then pursue his dream of having his own cartoon strip. His first stop was to visit Al Capp, the creator of ‘Lil Abner’ who a short time later offered him a job as assistant to Rayburn Van Buren who drew ‘Abby ‘n Slats’. From there it was on to New York working under Stan Lee (later of Spider Man fame). After New York he went back to Al Capp and his staff contributing some ideas to the Lil Abner Strip and inking in the comic strip. His paintings appeared on several covers of Yankee magazine. The Post-Hall syndicate asked him to try a strip named “Marlin Keel”, a marine adventure strip which ran in the Boston Globe and nationally under the watchful eye of Ed Dodd, creator of ‘Mark Trail’. But the comic strips were changing in both content and style and the strip lasted almost to that crucial one year which it needed to establish a readership base. Later he worked for Rust Craft greeting cards as a board artist and in later years as an art director. He pursued his art career diligently in those years, being accepted as a member of the American Watercolor Society, the Allied Artist of America, the New England Watercolor Society and The Guild of Boston Artists, winning many national and regional awards in those organizations. He taught a watercolor class at Lexington Arts and Crafts Society for over 40 years. He held workshops up and down the east coast and Bermuda. He loved teaching and passing on his knowledge of watercolor painting. He painted New England scenes and specialized in traditional paintings of harbors and interesting old New England architecture. He would often say, “I want to paint that house before they tear it down.” and that happened more than once. He had various galleries displaying his work and kept on painting until his death. He would say that the New England scene in its quaintness was his never-ending inspiration. George leaves his wife, Janice and five children and ten grandchildren. George is the husband of Janice M. (Brailey). He is the loving father of Stephanie Williams & her husband Rowland of Marblehead, Serena Green & her husband John of Scituate, Daniel Brundige & his wife Pam of Pittsfield, MA, David Shedd & his wife Sheila of Wilmington, and Carolyn McLaughlin & her husband Steven of Brookline, NH. He is the grandfather of Sarah and Deborah Williams, Christopher and Willem Berkelaar, Jacob and Leah Brundige, Michael and Abygail Shedd, Evan and Megan McLaughlin. Visiting hours will be on Sunday, June 4 at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., BURLINGTON (exit 34 off Rt. 128, Woburn side) from 2-5 p.m. Funeral Services will be held on Monday June 5 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church at 10 a.m. Interment will follow in Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Burlington. Memorials in George’s name may be made to the St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Memorial Fund, 10 St. Mark’s Rd, Burlington, MA 01803 or INSPIRE, a pulmonary support group, c/o Helen Stack, 7 Knollwood Drive, Merrimack, NH 03054.