From the Morgue: John Boos: Making the most of life

In last week’s column, I wrote about two Leos and their connections to John and Cecelia Boos’ home — the Wood Building at the southwest corner of Independence and Frederick streets. The north facade of that structure now sports a restored Leo’s Central Inn/Stag mural, courtesy of Cape Girardeau artist Craig Thomas.

But John and Cece are both artists in their own rights. Cece does amazing glass art, while John, a finish carpenter by trade, made his mark as a painter.

In researching last week’s offering, I found a feature on John published July 10, 1975, in the Southeast Missourian.

John Boos says he has an advantage over some people who would like to travel as he does all over the United States. He's 6-foot-6 and doesn't worry about sleeping on the roadside or walking down strange New York streets. However, John's height didn't prevent him from cutting his hand last weekend when he was working on farm machinery.Gordon L. McBride ~ Southeast Missourian archive

Doing it with gusto: John Boos making the most of life

By KIM PLUMMER

Missourian Staff Writer

The guy who says “You only go around once in life, you gotta do it with gusto” isn’t telling 24-year-old John Boos a thing he doesn’t already know.

Since John graduated two years ago from Southeast Missouri State University, he has been a steeple-jack in Kansas, a bouncer in New Orleans, picked apples in Washington, re-roofed a fertilizer factory in Los Angeles and dug a basement by hand in South Dakota.

But John is an artist.

He recently sold a picture story on the development of old Highway 61 to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The feature includes sketches and water color paintings of the highway scenery, and soon will appear in the Sunday “Pictures” supplement.

Another bristle in this artist’s paintbrush is that one of his water color paintings is on display at a prominent Paris showing. John’s painting of a large birch tree won a national contest sponsored by a New York gallery and has been in Paris since June.

John resides with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Boos, and six of his seven brothers and sisters on Route 2. His main goal is to become a successful enough artist so he can earn a living and devote most of his time to painting.

The young artist is spending summer painting during the week in his studio — a converted garage loft — and helping his father farm and doing odd jobs on weekends.

But none of the jobs John does around here are nearly as odd as others he has had.

The closer John got to college graduation, the more he disliked the thought of settling down to a routine, 8 to 5 job.

“I always worked and put myself through school. I always had summer jobs and was tied down. So, I decided now is the time to travel and do those things I’d dreamed about,” John says.

The new graduate, with a bachelor’s degree in art, spent the next two years traveling in a red 1967 van in each of the continental United States and Canada. His travels are recorded in many of the paintings and sketches in his studio.

He left home with $80 and when that ran out, he picked vegetables, did carpenter work and baled hay to make more money.

“When people hear about my travels, they think it sounds neat. But they didn’t see me sleeping on the roadside in 15-degree weather with my breath condensed on the blanket or covered with grit from working all day in a potato field,” he says.

The artist says most older people talk with him about his travels with envy and regret they never had such an adventure.

Then there are others who regard him as a weirdo who should settle down, get married and spend his day working in an office.

“But the people who matter most to me agree with what I’m doing and understand why I do it. Besides, I’m an artist and that’s an automatic license to be crazy,” he says.

John describes himself as a loner and a free thinker. He frequently shares tidbits of 24-year-old wisdom. Such as:

“If you solicit people’s opinion, you get it. I never solicit.

“Artists get the most pats on the back — and most kicks on the rear.

“I keep a file of my rejection slips just for grins. I want to see how many I can collect before I die.”

John is planning two trips in the next few weeks, one to an art display on Kentucky Lake where he hopes to sell some of his work, and another to Florida, which is a vacation but will include some sketching.

In August, John says he will do field work in the area, capturing much of the local color on canvas.

He says he likes to stay flexible about what he paints and his style. He never paints a picture with selling it in mind because that attitude would stifle his creativity, he says.

But no matter where he is, one can bet that John Boos will do exactly what he wants to do.

“I’m going to make the most of my life and I figure I’ve only got one chance to do it. I never met anybody who got any more.”

Sharon Sanders is the librarian at the Southeast Missourian.