JEAN PILK

I ran across Jean´s obituary today. Did not know she had passed. I lived near Jean in Aiken and asked her if I could paint with her for a fee. She agreed, found a model and we had many enjoyable sessions together. She gave me wonderful instruction. I made her husband pies because she said he loved pie. I remember when she got her Standard Poodle. It gave her such joy. So sad to think of her gone. She so loved her family and Maine! All the best to her family. Susan Dillard

My condolences to the Pilk family. Many times I have taken Pentagon visitors to see Jean Pilk’s portraits of the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She painted fifteen of them, from Omar Bradley to Hugh Shelton – many deceased by the time she began the project. It could have been a boring series of head-shots. But instead the portraits are fascinating. Pilk included artifacts that gave clues to the biographies and personalities of each man, drawing the viewer into the story. Over...

I remember Jean. She was the wife of my West Point classmate, Jack Pilk, and she did the excellent sculpture and rendition of our classmate Dick Shea which is affixed to the side of the track stadium at West Point that was named for Dick. Dick Shea was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1953 for his heroic actions on Pork Chop Hill in Korea. The sculpture was created when the Class of 1952 built Shea Stadium and Jean suggested the sculpture and volunteered to create it. We greatly appreciated her...

Pilk Family, I happened to catch your mom/grandmother’s obituary today, and just wanted to take a moment to appreciate a woman who was not only fascinating, but raised some marvelously self-deprecating kids. The obit is a work of art - I laughed out loud and could just feel her presence. I’m a KC girl myself who happened to have a grandma who illustrated ads for Famous & Barr in St. Louis - she shared Jean’s experience of the industry, though 20 years older. So sorry for the loss of an...