FOREWORD
The inspiration for this booklet came from my father, William Conrad Stone, who throughout his life loved and supported his Uncle Bob’s work. Dad left boxes of files about Uncle Bob, most of which now reside at the Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, under the helpful auspices of curator Mary LaGue.
My mother, Lorna Kearfott DuVal Stone, and my father’s sisters, Mary Glenn Stone Copenhaver and Nancy Stone Watkins, were most enthusiastic about the project. Aunt Nancy contributed many stories from her prodigious memory, and she put me in touch with Terry and Barbara, Kearfott’s granddaughters.
Terry Kearfott LaBonne and Barbara Kearfott Ringle shared wonderful stories about their grandparents and sent many of the photographs used in the booklet.
My partner Theo, sister Marcia, brother Jeff and my Stone/Kearfott cousins have encouraged me throughout. It is for them, for our son Daniel and for their children that this little booklet is designed, so that as these family treasures are passed on through generations, the story of the man who was the artist will go with them. Some may find in themselves the creative impulse and the courage that inspired Robert Ryland Kearfott.
Lorna Kearfott Stone
Seattle, WA 2014
Forward