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On Wednesday the 29th, Long time wall dog and sign painter, "Bill Finch" passed away at his home here in Grants Pass. He was 72.
Although he was never active in the Letterhead movement, I'm sure that a lot of you ran across him in his 50+ year career. He worked for many years as a billboard pictorial artist for Foster and Kleiser Outdoor Advertising, and in recent years he painted and restored a lot of the historical Pepsi signs in the Pacific Northwest.
Bill always had a smile and a funny story to tell. I'll miss him a lot.
------------------ Jerry Mathel Jerry Mathel Signs Grants Pass, Oregon signs@grantspass.com
Posts: 916 | From: Grants Pass, OR USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Jerry, was Bill the sign painter you came down with a couple of years ago to Ron Percells Micro Meet? I think he did some lettering on Adrienne's van on the back? If so, sorry to hear about that. My condolences to his family.
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aka: Cisco aka:Traveling Millennium Sign Artist http://www.franciscovargas.com Fresno, CA 93703 559 252-0935
"to live life, is to love life, a sign of no life, is a sign of no love"...Cisco 12'98
Posts: 3576 | From: Fresno, Ca, the great USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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No Cisco, That was Bill Williams. Except for getting a new pacemaker, he's going as strong as ever. In fact, there is a feature article on Bill Williams building some channel letters in the last issue of Sign Builder Illustrated
------------------ Jerry Mathel Jerry Mathel Signs Grants Pass, Oregon signs@grantspass.com
Posts: 916 | From: Grants Pass, OR USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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It's always sad to loose the old guys, although 72 isn't that old. It's sad to loose friends.
Jerry, I remember the old guys that did these billboard mock-up paintings in full color and detail that were maybe a foot and a half long and to scale that were used both as sales tools and for paint plans when scaling up to full size. Those were absolutely marvelous and I never see them anymore. Perhaps Bill had some of those and you could get some and do an article from that. They also would be welcomed by Tod at the Sign Museum. I remember that Benedict had a couple of those. That was back before uni poles. Back when the boards were closer to the ground and had lattice work around them and decorative frames.
------------------ The SignShop Mendocino, California "Where the Redwoods meet the Surf"
Posts: 6806 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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