My grandfather was something of a renaissance man. He was a soldier, liked to hunt and fish, and he played semi-pro baseball for the Jacksonville Suns. He was a telegraph operator until it began to damage his hearing and then he went to work on the railroad. At the early part of the 20th century that would describe many men...but there was something about him that I will always remember - his penmanship.

Wesley Beach had a beautiful copperplate-style hand. He shaded and scrolled his letters and words until everything he wrote became a work of art. The really funny thing was, he didn't think anything of it - it was simply the way he wrote. He collected dimes and dollars for certificates and diplomas, saving it all in his 'hunting' jar for those too brief forays into the woods near Charleston, SC, where he and his brothers and cousins would stalk their dinner.

I've been inspired most of my life to try to duplicate his penmanship...I can't of course. I don't know exactly what I am missing, his artistic ability or his discipline to practice - or both. I only know that even now I still try and every once in a while, something comes out beautiful and I wish he could see it.

Perhaps he does. - PJ