I was saddened when Clyde Provonsha, long-time Angwinite, passed away last week. A while ago, I posted a little essay on Excellence (click People of Excellence to read a recent Angwin Reporter article of that title).

I must have had people like Clyde subconsciously in mind when I wrote that. He was a professional artist, with emphasis on professional. We worked together on a number of projects and everything Clyde did was Excellent. He was really, really good at what he did.

Clyde's father was an itinerant car body painter. When he moved into a new town to solicit business, he would arrange for 14-year-old Clyde and his brother to set up easels in a store front, where they would paint pastoral scenes that sold for 50 cents. Not a typical childhood.

When Clyde was still a teen-ager, a neighbor recognized his talent and encouraged him into the Art Center College of Design. For years thereafter, Clyde and his brother operated a commercial art studio in LA. One of their best accounts was Sunkist. Because no one else could paint a picture of a sliced-open Sunkist orange dripping with such mouth-watering realism.

Clyde earned a national reputation as a book illustrator, again with remarkable realism. A generation of Adventists grew up with Provonsha illustrations making the stories come to life.

For a long period when I was producing publications for various clients, I leaned on Clyde for his unique talents. He was Mr. Dependable. More than that, he was a good friend because when I was burning the midnight oil to meet a deadline, I knew that the light was on in Clyde's studio, too, and that the next morning I would be seeing something really, really good.

Excellence. . .