Arlo Kalon 2.0
New Member
I recently learned on Facebook about the demise of a friend I hadn't seen in over thirty years. The story contained a link to an article about him in New Jersey Monthly magazine. His name was Matthew Bonaduce McGrath who lived in Verona, New Jersey.
Years ago he followed me around like a puppy dog wanting me to teach him what I knew about sign painting. I introduced him to a couple master painters I was apprenticing under. They got mad at me for doing that because he relentlessly bugged them as well. He had a big strike against him by being left handed so hand lettering presented obstacles for him. I was glad to help him out, he became like a little brother.
I'll probably never forget once when I was lettering a canopy above an auto sales lot and he showed up. I was working off a walk plank on the ladder racks of my brand new 1979 metallic silver Ford pickup I had bought the week before. I told him I would cut in letters and let him fill them in and told him to grab the black. Instead of pouring paint into one of the many soup cans in the bed of the truck, he grabbed and opened a new quart and proceeded to climb up on the plank. He dropped the open can on the roof of the cab and paint began running down my windshield and doors. Back then clear coat on metallic paint wasn't as good as it is now. I yelled at him to grab some rags and thinner and clean my truck off. He grabbed a gallon of lacquer thinner and poured it out all over the front of my truck before I could stop him. He ruined the paint job on my week old truck!
When I read the article about him I was impressed to see the heights he had attained in the business. He was an institution in the Verona area. He specialized in hand carved signs that adorned college campuses to city buildings. His work was fabulous.
He died at the age of 57 by being killed by a hit and run driver as he was attempting to cross a busy road on foot. I watched a news clip of a city official talking about how well known he was in the area and how everyone wanted a sign from him. I also stupidly watched a traffic cam video of him being killed and the driver speeding away. The driver was caught a week later. I wish I had been able to visit him and see his shop but that isn't how life always works. Anyway, a great one who did it old school is no longer with us.
Years ago he followed me around like a puppy dog wanting me to teach him what I knew about sign painting. I introduced him to a couple master painters I was apprenticing under. They got mad at me for doing that because he relentlessly bugged them as well. He had a big strike against him by being left handed so hand lettering presented obstacles for him. I was glad to help him out, he became like a little brother.
I'll probably never forget once when I was lettering a canopy above an auto sales lot and he showed up. I was working off a walk plank on the ladder racks of my brand new 1979 metallic silver Ford pickup I had bought the week before. I told him I would cut in letters and let him fill them in and told him to grab the black. Instead of pouring paint into one of the many soup cans in the bed of the truck, he grabbed and opened a new quart and proceeded to climb up on the plank. He dropped the open can on the roof of the cab and paint began running down my windshield and doors. Back then clear coat on metallic paint wasn't as good as it is now. I yelled at him to grab some rags and thinner and clean my truck off. He grabbed a gallon of lacquer thinner and poured it out all over the front of my truck before I could stop him. He ruined the paint job on my week old truck!
When I read the article about him I was impressed to see the heights he had attained in the business. He was an institution in the Verona area. He specialized in hand carved signs that adorned college campuses to city buildings. His work was fabulous.
He died at the age of 57 by being killed by a hit and run driver as he was attempting to cross a busy road on foot. I watched a news clip of a city official talking about how well known he was in the area and how everyone wanted a sign from him. I also stupidly watched a traffic cam video of him being killed and the driver speeding away. The driver was caught a week later. I wish I had been able to visit him and see his shop but that isn't how life always works. Anyway, a great one who did it old school is no longer with us.
