To some, hiring an artist to paint numbers and the company's crest on a new rig may look like splurging, but members of Connecticut's Round Hill Volunteer Fire Company don't see it that way.
Second Assistant Chief William Strain tells GreenwichTime.com the personal touch cost the department only a little more than vinyl lettering, $3,000. And it's not the first truck 76-year-old Robert Whalen has painted for the company — it's the fifth.
"It adds a lot of pride to the volunteers," Whalen, a portrait painter, told writer Frank MacEachern. "Their pay is their pride in their community, their fire department and what they are doing is a service to the community."
Read MacEachern's full story, including specs on the new rig, here on GreenwichTime.com.
Maybe I’m a traditionalist, but to me, there is not much more that is more beautiful than hand-lettered gold leaf on a good looking fire truck. I wish I had perfected the art of machine-turned gold leaf when I had the chance. Great work.