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by Danielle Frawley

Shelburne resident Jim Edgerton is the fourth generation in his family featured in a famous Norman Rockwell illustration. The artwork to the far right features young Jim Edgerton as the youngest boyscout. The other three boyscouts are his father, completing the four generations of the Edgerton family posing for Rockwell illustrations and paintings. Rockwell lived next door to Jimmy's father, James "Buddy" Edgerton, and his family in West Arlington, Vt. for 10 years, (1943-1953). Buddy posed for Rockwell several times and can be seen as a boy scout in many of Rockwell's illustrations and also on the cover of a Dell Comic book as the Lone Ranger.
Generations upon generations of people have looked at Rockwell's paintings and illustrations to view a nostalgic slice of American life. Rockwell was a prolific artist and brought many such illustrations to life during the period of his artistic career spent in Vermont.

Buddy now lives in South Burlington and has co-written a book, "The Unknown Rockwell: A Portrait of Two American Families," which was launched in the fall of 2009. Nan O'Brien wrote the book with Buddy's voice held strong throughout, telling story after story of the two families: the Edgertons and the Rockwells. The families not only lived close to each other (their houses were about 50-feet apart) but they also spent a great deal of time together. Buddy reminisces that both families were on a first-name basis and that his father would often critique Rockwell's paintings and the children would often sneak into his workshop to watch him paint or draw. Buddy's mother often delivered Rockwell's paintings to his art publisher. All this and more is described in the book.

The book is not a typical Rockwell coffee table art book, but instead depicts one Vermont family's interactions with this famous figure in art, culture, and history. The stories told are relatable and span generations, it tells of people young and old living during the Great Depression and World War II, a history well known to most and experienced by some.
So far, the book has been a big success and can be found in local bookstores such as the Flying Pig. Soon, Buddy will be traveling out west to Los Angeles and Denver to promote the book farther than New England's borders.

Locally, father and son will be promoting the book on Saturday, June 5 from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at the Davis Center on UVM's campus.