Bringing joy with every brushstroke

By Maggie Gray

Our Fingerprints Don’t Fade From the Lives We Touch.  –Judy Blume

Cuban-born Carmen Herrera didn’t sell her first painting until she was 89 and held her first solo exhibition in New York at 100. Grandma Moses didn’t begin painting in earnest until her late 70s, yet her visions of rural America made her an icon. Their stories remind us that art has no timetable—that brilliance can ripen late, in the long patience of a life fully lived.

In the garage attached to the back of a stately old home in Fairfax, Carol Gregory keeps her paintbrushes ready – each one a lifeline, dipping into jars of bold color—Minnesota Vikings purple and gold, the Twins red and blue, or the Wild green and red—to bring her favorite sports logos to life.  But that’s just part of her story.

Carol and her husband Wally were members of the Lions Club in Fairfax. Her passion to paint came alive when she was asked to paint logos for the Club which was now the new location for the Veterans meetings in town.

“I realized that if the Veterans were going to use that space, I should really do something for them, so that’s how I came up with the idea of doing a logo for each of the military branches,” she exclaimed. “I painted the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Sky Force logos for their wall in 2021. It was a labor of love, but also of endurance. It was a lot of work,” she admitted. “I spent hundreds of hours climbing up and down the ladder to paint each military logo above the entry door.” Today, those emblems stand as a colorful tribute to service and sacrifice—and as proof of Carol’s determination to keep giving through her art.

“Then the City of Fairfax had a disastrous fire and we lost that location,” she said. “I had also painted a huge mural on the wall along with the Lions Club sign and the logos. It was all gone, all lost. We had to redo the entire inside again, and Mary Jo, the wife of the president, asked me to repaint the logos because everyone enjoyed them, especially the Veterans.” 

She explained to them that she didn’t want to climb that ladder again, so she painted each logo on small wooden circles which now adorn the entry wall of the building.

At 82, Carol is still brimming with ideas, constantly sketching out new designs and giving back through her art. Recently, the Fairfax Depot Museum board asked her to create a playful mural of a train, complete with cut-out windows so children could poke their heads through and pretend they were riding along. Carol jumped at the chance.

Step into her garage and you’re swept into her world: brushes lined up like soldiers, jars of bold color waiting, blank canvases ready to become memories. The space hums with her energy and joy, a reflection of how painting has become her lifeline. And just when you think you’ve heard it all, she mentions another chapter—her years as a blackjack dealer at the Royal River Casino in Flandreau, S.D. It’s a twist that, like her art, reveals the many unexpected layers of her life.

“Painting is my lifesaver,” Carol said. “I could sit in the house and watch TV all day, but that’s just not me. I need to keep busy—I have to be doing something.” For the past three years, that something has been painting sports logos. She started with a Green Bay Packers design for her son, then added Vikings and Wild logos for her great-grandchildren.

Her love of painting goes back further. At their former home, Carol’s late husband, Wally, knew how much it meant to her. She once painted black-and-white squares across the garage floor and added a bold Harley-Davidson logo in the center.

“Wally loved it,” she said, smiling at the memory. “He drove a Harley and was such a huge Harley fan.”

 Carol has an entire wall in her garage of sports logos.

“I’ve painted a logo for every team that includes all of the NFL and AFL teams. My daughter started me on the sports team logos when she asked me to paint a Minnesota Wild sign,” she said. “Then she told my nephew Jeff who lives in Michigan and he then requested a Red Wings sign, and I said sure! He wanted two logos – one for him and one for his son. I said ok! And that’s kind of how my logo obsession started with the sports part of my painting.”

“I have also painted images of famous singers. My daughter loves the Prince painting. But I am a huge Michael Jackson fan and that’s my favorite one. I also painted Keith Richards and loved doing the one of John Lennon and Elvis,” she said. “I found out about a young man who is mentally disabled and he’s a big Elvis fan, so I gave him the Elvis one I painted. I just love giving my paintings to people.”

Carol’s garage, large enough to easily fit four cars, has turned into her own gallery and work space. She calls her artwork “Carol’s Classy Trash.”

“I decided one day to decorate my garage with all my logos and it just grew from there. I also paint things for my daughter’s friends,” she stated. “I’m always tweaking my artwork and am really proud of myself that I can still print lettering in small format like on one of my cornhole boards when I printed the word ‘Ford.’”

When asked what mattered most in her painting, Carol didn’t hesitate: “My brushes,” she said. “You must have the right brushes. They’re the most important part of my work.” She makes regular trips to a shop in Marshall for paints, transfer paper, and, of course, brushes.

One of her favorite projects, she recalled, was transforming an old wooden ammunition box into a gun case with legs, topped off by a hand-painted Winchester logo.

“I loved painting that box,” she said. When a cement worker spotted it in her garage and revealed he was a Winchester collector, he offered to buy it. She sold it for $50—just $10 more than what she’d paid for the box itself.

“I didn’t really make any money,” Carol said with a grin, “but gosh, I sure loved painting it.”

Carol’s advice to other seniors? Stay moving, stay joyful, and don’t overcomplicate life.

“I keep busy, I don’t stress, and I don’t eat a lot of red meat,” she said with a laugh. Instead, she fills her days with small pleasures: a bowl of oatmeal topped with brown sugar, walnuts, and a splash of half-and-half (“Yummy!” she insists), or a square of dark chocolate savored without guilt. She snacks when she’s hungry, rests when she’s tired, and refuses to let worry take up space in her life.

“The main thing,” Carol said, “is to keep busy, find something you love, and do it.”

And her best piece of advice? With a wink, she adds: “Have a good attitude—and buy great brushes.”