A GIFT FROM BIL

 My blogger friend, Sharon, has a post today that gave me an idea for this post.

(You can see her post here.)

I, too, own an autographed Bil Keane cartoon.

And, by the way, he did spell his first name with only one "L".

It was when Judy and I owned and ran a bookstore here in Prescott Valley.

One day his cartoon "The Family Circus" rang especially true for us so I quickly wrote him a letter at the newspaper in Phoenix and asked him if I could have a copy of it for our store.

He kindly sent one up to me, personally signed in one corner and we displayed it in the store until it went out of business.

You don't have to squint - I cropped the signature portion and blew it up.

I had met Mr. Keane many years before at a party and knew him to be a sweet gentleman.

This proved it once again.

When we moved into our present home I was planning what pictures to hang on a wall in my room and ran across this and decided to give it a place of honor.

There's another piece hanging below it, which I'll show you tomorrow.