WWII vet credits G.I. Bill with launching art career

For many veterans, joining the service was their answer to a calling. But for Dean Dallin, his calling was answered after his time in the service. Dallin, served in the Navy for three years during World War Two. He’ll never forget the day the war ended.

“I was in Portland, Oregon,” Dallin says. “Papers came flying out of the windows right downtown, and confetti. Cars started honking [and were] jammed up and we discovered that the Japanese had surrendered.”

Dallin had another reason to celebrate. The G. I Bill helped to pay his way through art school, where his love and skill for fine art flourished.

“It changed my whole life and it gave me a career,” Dallin says.  “Now I’m still painting and still trying to get it right. It’s been a great ride, but I owe it all to the veterans administration and to the G.I. Bill.”

Evidence of his mastery of painting can be seen all over his house–brightly painted still lifes and landscape scenes that have won him awards and accolades. Dallin’s artwork has been an inspiration to many, including his daughter.

“My father has inspired me to be an artist and not to the degree that he is,” Robin Dallin Freyermuth says. “But I do, do my own work. But his fine art, it involves all of us.”

Dallin’s artwork has influenced many throughout the Central Valley including visitors to historic sites and local high schools where his art is displayed.

It’s clear Dean Dallin’s artwork touches the lives of others, one colorful stroke at a time.