|
|
|
A MEMORIAL FOR KIM WILSON On the eight day of February of this year 2006 we lost our beloved Kim to the ravages of cancer. She had been fighting this horror for nearly two years when it took her from us. Kim was the closest thing I have ever had to a sister; she was my friend for 25 years and my business partner and my spiritual guide. I will always miss her enormously and I will never forget her smile, her laugh, her wisdom - not for one waking moment of my life. She always had the answers to life's thorniest questions. Kim always joked that the only time she had ever been early for anything in her life is when she was born in the back seat of the car in the hospital parking lot. We kidded around that we should tell her a party started at 8 if we wanted to see her by 9! Well, Kim surprised us all by doing one more thing early - she left us at the age of 50. Too soon, too young! Here are two of my very favorite photos of Kim.
Rest in Peace, Dearest Sister, Rest in Peace.
Our Back Pages Kim and Mar began working together in 1981. Kim was retouching photographs for Jim Cavanaugh's Aerial Images Studio and Mar operated the short-lived Cavanaugh's Framing. Mar had been framing since 1969, working both at Bond's and Buffalo Picture Frame. Before long Jim had weaned us both from his employ and at the same time helped us set up our own businesses. In the Fall of 1982 we threw our lot in together and opened State of the Art at 1781 Hertel Avenue in North Buffalo. Through the ups and downs of economy in general and Buffalo in particular, we are still here and we're not getting older, we're getting better!
Kim & Mar - We survived the 80's! Our little store is located in the middle of a regular Leave it to Beaver neighborhood, complete with moms and dads and kids and dogs and gardens and trees. Throughout our time as partners, Kim and I have been as close as sisters. She is the "city mouse" Catholic school survivor and I am the "country mouse" Preacher's kid. Kim's husband Mike is a very vital "behind the scenes" member of our team. He is our webmaster and our guru. If Mike decides he likes you, he may be willing to create a website for you! We love our customers. Our customers love us. They bring us cookies and cakes and freshly baked bread. Life is grand. Our wonderful customers are the basis of our clever "word of mouth" advertising campaign. And they tell more than "two friends." Our customers become our friends, and we have found that State of the Art has become included on the list of favorite places to bring out-of-town relatives and friends. Although one child was dreadfully disappointed when his Aunt Judy brought him to a dumb frame shop and he thought she was taking him to Mars! As an added bonus to our eclectic ambience, we enjoy the lively presence of Kim and Mike's two Jack Russell Terriers. Daddy Jester and his daughter Pixel keep us laughing with their antics and enthusiasm. They love their "public" as well as the accompanying biscuits and adoration. Jester and Pixel have also become the pioneers in a new Olympic event - Synchronized Sleeping! They take the "gold" every day! Every day is Earth Day at State of the Art. We collect frames, boards and art materials to pass along to the Buffalo Board of Education's Materials Reuse Program. We also donate to individual artists, crafters and teachers. Any materials that cannot be donated are recycled. We have never actually bought one single item that you could call "packaging material." When wrapping is needed you can rest assured that we use 100% post-consumer bags, paper, cardboard, bubble-wrap and foam. Some folks actually return wrappings to me so they can be recycled yet again. This pleases me. We endeavor to walk lightly upon the Earth. So, that is State of the Art in a nutshell. We love our work, we love our customers, we love animals, we love the Earth, and we love each other. We talk with people, we listen to people, and we fix "stuff" for people. How can we help you? Post Script I wrote the above story of the history of State of the Art when we first put up the Framaree website. I believe that one's history is very important, and now, even though Kim is no longer with us on the Earth Plane, her spirit continues to be with us and guide us in our everyday lives. Kim's husband Mike has agreed to step in and fill her "retouching shoes" - after all, they were together for 15 years and during that time, when the computer came into their lives, he taught her to use the programs and she taught him to do restoration work on photographs. They worked side by side on many projects and and I am confident that Kim's artistic legacy will be fulfilled by Mike's work. He will still be the "behind the scenes" kind of guy - but we may all rest assured that, like the Great Oz, he is indeed there!
"Treat the earth well. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors...we borrow it from our children." |
|
|
