by 
Sam Hosler
Anyone who knows me knows my love of taking photos. Over the years I have taken thousands of them, through the film years and now in these digital times. But some of the best pictures are the ones I missed because I didn’t have my camera with me. Yep. The photo I didn’t take is always the best one.
SNAPSHOTS: The open door of the Kearny firehouse, with the new volunteers lined up before the old heads, taking in what they need to know to keep us safe. The Gila River running again. The new Snak Shak in Kearny and the new Maria’s in Mammoth. The volunteers at the transfer station outside Kearny helping county residents to dump their large items. The school kids making their way to classes. Clerks at Norm’s IGA freshening the fruit and painting displays for the flowers.
I also missed taking a good picture of Ellen Endsley. Well, I have many pictures I have taken, but they don’t have the sparkle I need to call them “good pictures.” And Ellen sparkles.
I first met her at the Hayden Senior Center when I joined the art group. This was, I think, about 2005. I was shown a spot at a long table with several oil and acrylic painters, and I sat right across from Ellen. We became friends, and my respect for her grew over the years that we were in close proximity. She painted. I mixed paint, trying to find the right shade. She finished a fine painting. I applied a little bit of the sky. The next day Ellen started another painting. I mixed another shade of blue and covered over what I had painted the day before.
This went on for years. I think the Ellen/Sam painting ratio is something like 7/1 right now. We mixed in other ways, too. She has always been a devout Christian, a valued member of Fellowship Baptist Church. She has been the principal musician there, and often she would hop over to the Church of the Good Shepherd to play there as well. How good she is! I could sing along to her piano playing forever.
Ellen worked with generations of students at Ray High School, and they love and adore her. I know everyone will join with me in missing Ellen when she moves to the Valley of the Sun the first week of September. She is 90 years old and needs to be closer to medical facilities. That’s good for her, but it is painful for us. Go with God, Ellen. Come back to see the spring art show. You know that you take a wonderful picture away from us, a picture of someone we would like to emulate.
Speaking of emulation, I was a young Episcopal priest when John McCain and others (including Ernie Brace, Rose Bradford’s brother) were prisoners in the Hanoi Hilton in North Vietnam. When they were all finally released, I read an account of how John McCain, armed only with a Bible and an Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, served as the unofficial chaplain to the prisoners, devising ways for them to worship God even as they were imprisoned in separate rooms. That picture remains with me in my heart. Rest in peace, John.
Maybe I should mention now, before I forget, that there is a need for several people to fill the spot Ellen leaves in the art group, which meets on Fridays from 9 a.m. to about 3 p.m. in Ray Hall of Good Shepherd Church beginning Sept. 14. They will assist you with supplies if you need them (paints, pencils, paper and canvasses and such) and they have plenty of easels and tables. Look for the posters around all the towns for more information.
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