Tributes pour in as VanMeter remembered

By Matt Cizek | The Winchester Sun

The word ‘leg­end’ gets thrown around all too loose­ly at times. However, in Winchester, the term was attrib­ut­able to Holly VanMeter.

VanMeter, who died at age 86 on Wednesday, Feb. 19, was paid trib­ute to as reac­tions poured in from through­out the community.

“I am dev­as­tat­ed!!!” wrote Mason Rhodus, own­er and oper­a­tor of Mason on Main. “Holly[,] I will miss all the laugh­ter we have shared the last ten years. Your friend­ship meant more to me than you could have ever known!!! I LOVE YOU HOLLY.”

VanMeter, who was a moth­er, grand­moth­er, and great-grand­moth­er, was the first-ever pres­i­dent of the Winchester Art Guild when it was formed as a 501(c)(3) orga­ni­za­tion in 1974.

“Holly brought almost a nation­wide focus to the arts here in Winchester…she is well known and well-loved,” said Ken Howard, cur­rent pres­i­dent of the Winchester Art Guild.

A self-taught artist, VanMeter worked in sev­er­al dis­ci­plines, includ­ing water­col­or paint­ings, post­cards, note­cards, and more. She received statewide recog­ni­tion for her work dec­o­rat­ing a pair of Horse Mania fiber­glass horses.

VanMeter also was influ­en­tial in inspir­ing and guid­ing the work of oth­ers through­out the community.

“She was very good at tutor­ing and men­tor­ing and instill­ing a love of art with oth­er artists, espe­cial­ly young artists,” Howard added. “She loved to help folks, and she loved to be a part of the com­mu­ni­ty.”
In the hours fol­low­ing her pass­ing, Whiskey and Wiles Photography’s Facebook page rec­og­nized VanMeter.

“I couldn’t let the clock hit mid­night on this cold day with­out acknowl­edg­ing that a #win­ches­terky leg­end has passed on. Ms. Holly VanMeter meant many things to many folks around our town. She had a very spe­cial con­nec­tion to Gallery66 and Whiskey and Wiles Photography’s new home on Main Street,” said one post, which fea­tured pic­tures, includ­ing one of VanMeter sit­ting at a table with var­i­ous works.

Yet no dis­cus­sion of VanMeter would be com­plete with­out dis­cussing her impact on the Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival, a now annu­al­ly-held event in Winchester fea­tur­ing numer­ous arts and crafts ven­dors and more.

“She was the impe­tus that real­ly got that going, and main­tained it, and sus­tained it,” Howard said, adding that it grew excep­tion­al­ly thanks to VanMeter’s influ­ence. “I don’t think that we would be where we are with­out her lead­er­ship and with­out that first push with the Daniel Boone Pioneer Festival.”

VanMeter’s char­ac­ter stood out as much in the com­mu­ni­ty as her art work.

“The only thing that [sur­passed] her tal­ent [was] the good­ness and kind­ness of her heart,” Howard said. “She nev­er met a stranger. She always was sweet to every­one and kind to everyone.”

On his per­son­al Facebook page, a local real­tor showed a card of a print VanMeter paint­ed and had sent him when he first began his career.

“She wrote inside of it…words of encour­age­ment and how hap­py she was for me,” he said. “I will always trea­sure this. Rest in peace sweet lady. You were a bless­ing to Winchester.”

VanMeter was pre­vi­ous­ly a Grand Marshal of the town’s annu­al down­town Christmas parade.
Her obit­u­ary, shared by many includ­ing Magistrate Robert Blanton, received hun­dreds of respons­es from individuals.

When asked what he hoped – among many char­ac­ter­is­tics – oth­ers might remem­ber the most, Howard was prompt with a response. “Her love,” he said. “Her love for oth­ers. Her love for com­mu­ni­ty, and her love for the arts…and for pass­ing that love down to others.”