PATTI LUTZENHISER

Patti Lutzenhiser is Carl Barks' third oldest granddaughter. Her mother is Barks' oldest daughter Peggy. She lives on a large ranch in Montana where she raises chickens and plans to raise horses and cattle. She is retired but keeps busy making cedar baskets in the Quillute indian style from bark she gathers herself.

Visits with my Grandfather

My first rememberance of meeting my grandfather was when I was quite small maybe about 5 years old. He came to visit us on our farm on the outskirts of Bremerton, Washington. He and Garé arrived in the afternoon. I had no idea at that time that he was who he was or that he was someone special to anyone but us. It was early in his and Garé's relationship and it was the first time for us to meet her. She had a booming laugh and quite a deep voice for a woman but was a delight even to me at such a young age. He was very much the professional, even towards his family. I don't ever remember him acting very grandfatherly - more like a friend of the family. But being as I was only 5 my memory of it is that of a child’s mind.

We did not see him again until about two years later when he and Garé stopped by when we lived at Hoodsport, Washington, where my father worked for the Department of Fisheries. They stayed at a motel near by and it was just a day or two visit. He and Garé were on one of their trips to photograph sites and places for Garé's paintings. She did master paintings for the Leanin’ Tree Card Company. You can still find cards and reproduction paintings of hers today. I guess it wasn't too exciting a visit for me as I don't remember much about it other than them at the house. I am sure they took us out to dinner and I know they always brought my mother some kind of gift - glassware and such.

The next visit was about 1956. We had moved to Glenwood, Washington, and lived a mile down in a canyon on the Klicitat River on a Salmon Hatchery. They came to visit for a couple of days and brought my mother a beautiful watercolor painting that Grandpa Carl had done in 1954. I have it in my home today. It was a picture of a little cabin in the shadow of Mount Adams of which we lived very near to at the time. The cabin sat at the top of the entrance to the mile of switchbacks down into the canyon in which we lived. The sun is just rising and it always takes me back to where I lived for almost five years of my life.
On this visit I was about 9 years old and they stayed with us as there was no motel for over 70 miles. It was a fun visit and Garé again was a delight and always talked to us about all kinds of things. My grandfather was more reserved but I do remember him having quite a good sense of humor even then. Lots of laughter and talking. When I look at that painting on my wall today that visit was my favorite one.

The next time I saw my grandfather was in 1957. He had sent my mother tickets to Disneyland, all expenses paid for two days. We stopped by their home in Hemet and visited them and they put us up in a nice motel and took us out to eat dinner. Their home was not fancy but always very practical. They had a studio where Garé painted and a room where Grandpa Carl did his comic work. He told us not to touch anything but we could look. He had a huge safe he kept important things in. My mother had given us strict instructions, 'not to be seen and not heard' before we got there.
All in all it was a fun visit and we got to do two full days at Disneyland all free to us. The Matterhorn ride was just being built at that time. It was interesting to see all the art work they had in the house and to fully understand who he was and what he did. The only bad part was that we went home and told all our friends at school, 'My grandfather invented Uncle Scrooge.' Of course they all said, 'You’re a liar.' We soon found out that it was better to not talk about it because no one believed it anyway. I laugh about it today.

The next time I saw my grandfather was at Gig Harbor, Washington. I was in the 9th grade, I think about 14 or 15 years old. He had come to see my mother as she was dying of cancer and he wanted to see her before she was too ill. He and Garé arrived and they stayed at a motel in Bremerton near by. It seemed the visit was geared more to talking about things that were more personal and we were at school most of the day so we only got to see them in the evenings. Garé gave me a beautiful dress and I was so pleased. They gave us money to buy ourselves something. But it was more of a sad visit than a happy one as my mother died the next year after a six-year battle with cancer.

I didn't see my grandfather for many years after that visit until he came to see my family in about 1981 or so. My girls were young and they don't even remember that visit too well. They came out for the day and I fed them salmon and venison and they got to know me as an adult. We just talked about our lives and he was so proud of his two great-granddaughters. After that visit Garé and I kept in touch by phone quite often and I learned more about them from those phone calls than I ever did in person. I value those talks we had so much because they let me learn about him and Garé more than anything else could have.

The next time I saw my grandfather was for Garé's funeral. We spent the day at his home in Grants Pass with many of his long time friends and business partners. Malcolm Willits, Bruce Hamilton, and many many others of whom I don't even remember their names.   There was a couple from England and some from Germany. The phone was ringing off the hook with people calling from all over the world to give him their sympathy. It was very eye opening the range of people that filled the day.
It was at his new home which he had just had built for Garé. She only got to enjoy it for a few weeks before her death. The walls were lined with large lithographs. The book shelves were filled with his books, and books others had written about him. His studio downstairs had a half-finished oil painting sitting on his easel. He had a huge walk-in vault for his and Garé's paintings and some of the paintings were quite old - from the 50's. He had every comic he had ever drawn in that room and used them for reference when doing work. Upstairs he had curio cabinets filled with things fans had sent him and so many other things in the room people had given him out of love and admiration.
The day ended with him taking a group of us, about 25 people, out to dinner. Two of which were the infamous Grandey's. They would not let anyone too near him even his own family. We said our good-byes after dinner and headed home to Washington.

The next time I saw him was for an award from the State of Oregon at the Capitol in Salem. My brother and sister and their familys attended and it was a wonderful day. We visited with him at the motel in his room with Dr. Gerry Tank who drove him there and we all had a wonderful visit. By this time he was getting a little more personal with us and that was nice.

The next two visits were at Grants Pass and were only for three or four hours each. He was getting very tired by this time and we had his caregivers go out and buy us lunch. He always wanted a hamburger and fries and we were happy and pleased he let us buy it for him. We would just sit and talk about what he was doing and he wanted to know what the family was up to, what the great and great-great-grandchildren were doing, and how they were doing. It was an 8 to 10 hour drive to go see him but we would go for the day as we never knew how long he would be with us.

The next visit I have already spoken about which was the funeral day the last time I would ever see him (see The Farewell, editor’s remark). Like the rest of his life he had it all taken care of and totally under his control down to the last detail.

Patti visiting Carl in 1999

The painting 'Canyon Morning' (see more details HERE)

This contribution was written specially for this website. © Patti Lutzenhiser