—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 4, 1977 138 Dairy relics become treasured family heirlooms By JOYCE BUPP York Co. Reporter MANCHESTER, Pa. - There was a time not too far in the past when every farm had several milk cans, sparkling clean and shiny, lined up in neat rows to be daily filled with milk from the family cows and loaded on a wagon for pickup at the end of a dusty lane. Progress has phased out the milk can, replacing it with the big bulk tank and spotless glass pipeline. Many of the old metal, containers lay forgotten in obscure corners of barns, gathering dirt and rust. One man’s ingenuity and creativity has salvaged some of those forgotten dairy relics, transforming them into hand-crafted, beautiful decorator pieces. With patience, oils, and a steady band, William Ogle has changed dust and dents to masterpieces of creativity creating some family heirlooms in the process. A multi-talented hobbyist, WiHiam Ogle paints landscapes from memory and has just completed building a grandfather clock. Ogle works in his garage studio at 40 Corriedale Road, York, near the town of Manchester. A former garageman, he has found time to seriously work at his lifetime love of painting, after a bout with several serious heart attacks. The craftsman remem bers his enjoyment of art as a youth in school. Then, during the 1950’5, he took a correspondence school course in commercial art. That course, he believes, helped him gain better understanding of per spective for the work he does today. Over 100 hand-decorated milk cans in homes all over the East Coast carry Ogle’s signature. Some have traveled to Florida, many are in the New England states, and Several grace homes in the* Philadelphia area. A large number of them feature reporductions of the owner's farm or house, done from a snapshot, or possibly from a sketch drawn by Ogle himself. “I had it sitting around, and I had to do something with it,” offers Ogle as the reason he attempted painting that first milk can several years ago. Colorfully done with oils in flowers and birds, the can still beautifies a comer of his studio. “A favorite with many of my customers is' the but terfly-frog-toadstool theme. That’s what was on the one 1 just finished,” explains the artist. He has done some painting of churches on the cans, and particularly recalls one that he covered with all kinds of colorful zoo animals. Although some of the cans brought to be decorated are shiny and clean, most arrive rusty and rather bedraggled. A rust-inhibitor is applied first, followed by a white undercoating. The oil painted figures or land- (Continued on Pace 151) 16 H.P. TRACTORS -| AT SPECIAL I Rabat* ImuM by Lawn * O*M Supply W Uy# n Pn*f *f PwrclM* T - MORE FOR YOUR TRACTOR DOUAR AT: LLOYD H. ZIMMERMAN SAVINGS Disf. by Lawn A Golf Supply Co. Inc., Phoanixvillo, Pa. William Ogle adds the finishing touches to a colorful milk' can depicting the home of Dover ag teacher, Richard Coons. \ppli»s To All 6 h.p. Modofs Offer Ends Juno 20. Other Models Available B*l6 h.p. iwor Extra R.D.3 Ephrata, Pa. Ir^4«4<4«4f YOU GET j BIG DE ALER ▼ DISCOUTST ▼ PLUS I SIOOREBATE t from X LmadMfSipply*! U h.p. ¥ No. 53030 Rfg $ | 775 00 ▼ NOW 1489.00 I less 100.00 X $1389.00
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers