As you step off of the elevator onto the fifth floor of Burdick Tower at Springfield Masonic Community, you are immediately surrounded by paintings of breathtaking landscapes with snow covered mountains, deserts with steep ravines, and roaring rivers. The hallways are lined with scenic paintings from places all over the world. Paintings so clear you have to squint because you can’t tell if it’s an enlarged photograph or a real life painting.
As you near the end of the hallway you enter into an art gallery of wall to wall scenic paintings and in a little yellow chair, sits a man who has painted it all. His name is Don Muncy and he’s a retired Navy veteran and self-taught artist whose portfolio is larger than life.
Don and his wife, Ginny, have lived at the Springfield Masonic Community, a subsidiary of the Ohio Masonic Home, in Springfield, Ohio for the last 13 years. “We’ve known each other for 82 years. We met at the age of 14. She had the prettiest smile on the block,” says Don as he and his wife are getting ready to celebrate their 77th wedding anniversary this fall.
Don enlisted in the Navy in 1940. While in the Navy, he advanced up the ranks quickly through the Navy Air Traffic Control Class and eventually, after discharge, held controller positions in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
After retirement in 1977, Don and Ginny set out on a whirl-wind adventure in a diesel truck and 34 foot motor home, traveling over 100,000 miles in the United States, Mexico, and Canada and playing over 400 golf courses. Ginny even won the Mt. Springs Country Club 54 Hole Ladies Championship in Sonora, California in 1991. “She won the championship and I was her caddy,” Don says with a smile.
Each place they traveled, Don would snap thousands of photographs to be used later on as inspiration for his paintings. “I went to vocational school and joined the Navy. I had no prior fine arts background.”
That all changed when Don retired. Always having an eye for the fine arts, he decided in 1977 he would learn how to paint. “I told Ginny, I was going to go to college or take classes and teach myself how to paint. We had my retirement party on a Saturday evening and by Monday morning I was painting.”
As Don continued to pursue his passion, he was fortunate enough to study with Hal Krause, Chicago Art Institute graduate and retired Disney Studio Illustrator and also took a few of the Bob Ross workshops to fulfill his passion for learning and painting. He’s taught art classes in Arizona, California, Florida, and now Ohio as a hobby.
Ginny also has a passion for the arts. She learned, while the couple resided in Hawaii, the study of Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement. She learned from a well-known teacher Sofu Teshigahara, founder of the Sogestsu School of Ikebana in Japan.
In 1999, the Muncy’s and the Springfield Masonic Community Director of Activities established the “One Grand Painting Club” for residents interested in art. Since its creation, many residents have been involved in the class and produced the artwork that lines the community center walls and other buildings around the Springfield campus.
Unfortunately, in 2003, Ginny was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) that would eventually turn into dementia and wasn’t able to focus as much on her passion for art. Since then, Don has had to take some time away from teaching to tend to his loving wife. “I had to take some time off to tend to Ginny, now that our daughter is retiring and is able to help out, I can get back to painting and teaching.”
In November 2015, with the help of Springfield Masonic Community, the art studio and gallery was completed on the fifth floor of Burdick Tower to serve as the classroom and library for Don and his students.
Residents with amazing life stories just like Don fill the Ohio Masonic Home campuses in Springfield, Waterville, and Medina. The Ohio Masonic Home makes it possible for residents to fulfill their passions through an active lifestyle and thriving social community. “I appreciate everything that the Ohio Masonic Home has done for me and my artwork.”
