4 4 Too old" not in her vocabulary 1 JFX, , v " A t 6r-?4 . - Si.- - "". .- t I ' ;f- . SA - A 1 ::f,",.'..'ii;."5, ViaaLffniu-. J.-,..- - Merle S. Foote is known by her grandchildren great-grandchildren as the 'Ice Cream Grandma,' or the 'Cookie Grandma'. To her children and her friends, this tiny 91-year old woman is known for her love of art and her continual enthusiasum for life. Mrs. Foote is the mother of Elwood Foote, Pleasant Grove. Her other children are Mrs. Maitland (Earlene) Spencer, Salt Lake; Dell Foote, Provo; and Paul Foote, Roosevelt. Mrs. Foote first began drawing when a child in Provo -encouraged by her parents to draw on the family blackboard with colored chalk. She is still painting, despite deteriorating eyesight, and says she wants to do a picture for each of her four children, 21 grandchildren and 58 great-grandchildren. She was honored recently by the Artists Section of the Women's Council of Provo, and had 10 of her paintings shown at the 45th annual art exhibit of the group. She not only finished two paintings within the past year, Mrs. Spencer says, but in 1982 received an art award from the Utah Federation of Women's Clubs. Modestly Mrs. Foote says she has never painted commercially and her work hasn't been widely shown but Mrs. Spencer said her mother has received many awards and honors for her paintings through the years, including the county and state General Federated Women's Clubs awards. She does landscapes, still lifes and flowers including bouquets of peonies, roses and lilacs but says she considers her painting of an old Provo home as one of her best works. As a child, Mrs. Foote was always interested in drawing and says she was often asked to do drawings on the blackboard at school for special holidays. She attended Maeser School, then the old Brigham Young High School Parker School. On July 11, 1917, she married T. Earl Foote, a school teacher and farmer. They made their home in Pleasant View where their four children were born. During those years the family acquired more land for orchards, a dairy of Jersey cows and a poultry business, and Mrs. Foote had little time for painting. Mr. Foote died in 1966. She joined the Women's Council Artist Section in 1943 when Bess E. Gourley was teacher and critic. It was a small group with a class each week painting flower .paintings. An art exhibit was held once a year to show the public what had been accomplished. ac-complished. At that time, special teachers held classes at some of the Provo shops and Mrs. Foote took some training from Mr. Folland of Salt Lake, who, she says, was an excellent teacher. One of her paintings from that class received a trophy. She later joined the Senior Citizen's art class taught by Salomon Aranda and says she enjoys en-joys his method of teaching. When her eyesight began to fail, it was found she had glaucoma and cataracts in both eyes. Surgery was done in one eye which was a serious operation then compared to the i modern methods of today. At 80, she took time out from her painting to write a history of the Provo Northeast area, earlier known as Pleasant View. She has been historian for Pleasant View Daughters of Utah Pioneers for over 20 years. Mrs. Foote still resides in her own home and enjoys working in her yard and keeping her house up, her daughter said. She also makes it a habit to have treats on hand for the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. Merle Foote still paints at 91 with her granddaughter. and Brigham Young University, studying art and education including composition, design, and color harmony. In addition to drawing, water color, pen and ink and design, she also took up china painting taking classes from Aretta Young, E. H. Eastmond, B.F. Larsen, O.D. Campbell, Bess E. Gourley and others. While attending BYU, she was asked to enter a contest sponsored by the 'White and Blue,' - a magazine that was published on special holidays and was awarded a gold medal for her winning cover design. This medal, she says, is still one of her cherished possessions. Mrs. Foote recalls she taught school at Moroni, Sanpete County, two years as fifth grade teacher part time, and drawing teacher in both the grade school and high school. After moving back to Provo she again taught fifth grade part time and was special drawing teacher in some of the other grades at the