Sometimes paybacks are great.
Dr. Roger Marshall found that out last week as he received four sunflower paintings from Great Bend High School art students of Carol Selle. Three years ago at the USD 428 Education Foundation Dinner and Auction, Marshall had bargained for – and won – a single sunflower painting by another of Selle’s students.
Through a series of miscommunications, the young artist was unaware that her painting was being auctioned for keeps. Marshall, whose daughter, Lauren, is an artist, said he totally understood the artist’s creative spirit and attachment to the picture and graciously returned the painting. He also generously followed through on his donation to the Education Foundation.
Marshall’s generosity has weighed heavily on Selle ever since.
“I just wanted to make it right with him,” Selle said. She taught Lauren Marshall when she was in high school.
Selle asked for volunteers to paint sunflowers to give to Marshall and three students stepped forward. Alyssa Dowson, Danely Valdovinos and Alexis Bright, all juniors, accepted the challenge.
Dowson painted two watercolors and Bright did a charcoal drawing. Valdovinos also painted a watercolor titled “Magical Flower.” It was entered in the Barton County Juried Art Show where it won first place in the watercolor category.
Marshall accepted the girls’ artwork with a huge smile.
“This is great,” he said.
He told them that he plans to hang them at Great Bend Regional Hospital.