From the Bronx to the White House by Rita Weighill, ’90, associate vice president for communication
W
hat does one do after he’s written a best-selling book, mixed and mingled with the rich and famous, and written speeches for a president of the United States? Obviously, paint. At least that’s what I traveled alone on a train from a Leo Janos, ’55, decided to do after he traded his pen for a paintNew York Bronx neighborhood to brush five years ago. The artwork tastefully displayed in get to Park. When I arrived in his Los Angeles home reflects the creative energy he once reserved for sculpting Kansas City, it was a dark Sunday pages with words. “I paint in the same night and the train station was empty, way I write,” Janos explained wryly. “I now stare at a blank canvas instead of a
blank piece of paper.” The end result is also the same. Like his writings, his paintings and sculptures hold the same undeniable appeal that seems to beckon viewers to arcane levels of attention. The 1981 recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award and today listed as one of Park University's top 125 outstanding graduates, Janos arrived at Park in the early 1950s with two distinctive characteristics: (1) a natural bent for writing and (2) a strong New York Bronx accent. The writing talent brought him the mentoring attention of English professor Ethel Lyon, and the accent captured the heart of his lifelong
except for Ken Hindman, ’54, who
was an upperclassman and there to greet and escort me to Park College.
I remember how very rural and dark the campus looked to me when we pulled up at Woodward Hall, my dorm. I can still smell those woods — there weren’t many trees in the Bronx. I felt like I had just moved to the moon. — Leo Janos, ’55
PHOTOS BY VERONICA PALEO
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