The Last "Old Man" Falls

Today we lost one of the greats.

The last of Walt's "Nine Old Men", Ollie Johnston, passed away. He was 95. You likely know his resume and legacy as well as I.
Years ago, as a young animator, I wrote to him as a fan. I was working at a small animation studio and I had purchased the above drawing from "Robin Hood" from a gallery that I supposed might be his. So I sent him a xerox copy to verify it. Here is his reply:
As you can see he was a kind a gracious man. Robert and MaryLou Ferguson, whom he mentioned, were friends of mine whom Ollie had worked with at Disney. They were retirees living in rural Texas. Robert was an effect technician who had started just after the war working with Ub Iwerks. MaryLou was an inker who started on "Fantasia" and had worked through "101 Dalmatians" (cleaning up xerox lines on hundreds of puppy cels). Ollie & MaryLou carpooled. The Fergusons passed away a few years ago.

Years later, I got the honor and pleasure of meeting Mr. Johnston (and asked him to sign the drawing). We kept up an occasional correspondence, mostly consisting of Christmas Cards, which I cherish.

I didn't know Mr. Johnston as well as many others. I never visited his home, nor rode his miniature train like lots of other animators who populate the halls Disney and Pixar. But he still meant a lot to me.

Perhaps I'll share some excerpts from his other letters at a later date. Maybe a Christmas card, too.

I'm sure there will be many other tributes abounding on the web today. Look them up and read them, I'm sure they will be much more eloquent than mine.