Mural to represent years of military presence and honor veterans

  • Published
  • By Kent Cummins
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs
SAN ANGELO, Texas --  What do you get when you mix a vision, an artist, and some paint from the 1800's?

Susan Morris, the visionary and Executive Director of Historic Murals of San Angelo, Inc., hopes the concoction will result in a mural that represents 140 years of military presence in San Angelo.

Historic Murals of San Angelo works to promote community pride, combat community deterioration, and preserve and rehabilitate buildings of historic and architectural significance.

The historical mural will include Fort Concho, Mathis Field Bombadier School, and Goodfellow Air Force Base. It will be located at 108 E. Concho Avenue.

"San Angelo is truly unique in the strength and longevity of its relationship with the military," said Dr. John Garrett, 17th Training Wing Historian. "It was Fort Concho that brought the town into existence nearly a century and a half ago. During World War II, San Angelo returned the favor by welcoming not one but two air training installations ... Goodfellow Field for the training of pilots and San Angelo Army Air Field, now Mathis Field, for the training of bombardiers and navigators."

The wall is prepped and ready for paint, but according to Morris, a critical ingredient needed to make the project a reality is money.

Morris has a plan.

"Historic Murals of San Angelo is going to sell 4x8-inch memorial bricks to frame the mural to help defray costs," she said. "Donors will be able to purchase a brick in memory of a veteran. The veteran's name will be on the brick and the donor can also have their name on it if they want to."

Because of the nature of the mural, "we would like to give Goodfellow Air Force Base members a chance to purchase the first memorial bricks during the month of June," Morris said.

Another element needed to complete her vision was someone to paint San Angelo's first military mural.

So, Stylle Read, an artist and native of Lufkin, Texas, put himself in the mix.

A self-proclaimed history and military buff, Read said he's "definitely pumped to do it."

Read, who has 25 years of experience painting professionally, painted the Ranching Mural located at the corner of Beauregard and Randolph Street, and the Elmer Kelton Mural at 118 S. Chadbourne.

Once he begins painting this project it will take about three months to complete.

The final component to bring Morris' vision to life is paint, but not your run-of-the-mill mixture.

The KEIM Royalan paint is a special potassium silicate paint developed in Germany in 1887.

"It's amazing paint," said Morris. "It doesn't burn, it won't mildew, or get moldy. But, it's also one of the things that drives up the cost of the murals."

The special paint is used around the world for masonry painting of buildings and murals.

"Murals you see on buildings throughout Europe were painted with it the 1800's and are still beautiful today," Morris said.

For more information about the historic military mural or donations for the memorial bricks, call Morris at 325-944-1443.

To learn more about the murals in San Angelo, go online to www.historicmuralsofsanangelo.org