Young artistic talent inspires memory of son lost too soon

By Brian McCauley, bmccauley@miconews.com

Paola High School senior Michael Howard carries his sketchbook almost everywhere he goes, and he recently received a $100 scholarship for his artistic abilities. In return, he painted a picture for Cathy Leaver, whose son died of cancer in 1999. (Photo by Brian McCauley / bmccauley@miconews.com)

Cathy Leaver still looks up to the clouds.

When she was a young mother in the late 1970s, one of her favorite activities was to escape to Lake Miola in Paola with her oldest son, Shawn, who was three or four at the time, and have a picnic before laying down and letting each of their imaginations run wild with the free shape-changing entertainment in the sky.

“He would see all kinds of things like flowers, dragons, butterflies and elephants,” Cathy said.

Today, every so often, she’ll escape to a secret place of her own, lay down and gaze up at the fluffy, white puffs as they slowly crawl across the blue sky. And every time, she thinks of Shawn.

“He was an everyday boy. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about Shawn, except he was my son. All my children are extraordinary to me,” Cathy said.

In June 1999, Cathy lost someone extraordinary. Shawn, a 25-year-old graduate of Spring Hill High School who had ambitions of utilizing his artistic talent to become a Marvel comic book illustrator, died after a seven-month battle with lymphoma cancer.

“Your world changes when you lose a child,” Cathy said. “Everyone handles it differently. For the first five years, I didn’t handle it well.”

The grief swept over Cathy, her son, Lance, and her daughter, Catie, after Shawn was gone, but an outpouring of compassion and donations after the funeral prompted the family to create something that would establish a lasting legacy: a scholarship.

Finding inspiration

It’s rare to see Michael Howard roaming the halls of Paola High School without his sketchbook in hand.

The cover of the standard spiral book is decorated by the previous owner, as Michael has already gone through a book of his own this year and had to accept the used one from his art teacher.

The pages are filled with everything from haunting images of death to the more tame portraits of classmates, but each sheet of paper is glowing with the artistic talent Michael has just begun to fully cultivate.

“I always doodled,” Michael said of his earlier years in school. “I usually start off with just lines and squares.”

The athletic, spiky-haired senior, who speaks frankly and with purpose, said he often doesn’t even know what he is drawing when he begins.

“Stuff just hits me,” he said as he snapped his fingers. “And I start drawing.”

He claims that cigarettes inspired him to draw an image of “death in a box,” and an elaborate sketch of a gargoyle perched on a ledge came to life from a simple square drawn on a page that he expanded upon.

“My art teacher says I have the most morbid imagination. I’m really a nice guy. I’m delightful,” he said with a smile.

The pictures that come out of his mind sometimes even surprise himself.

“It’s like looking into a funhouse mirror,” he said.

When Michael’s not drawing in his free time, he’s usually pursuing his other passion: music. The artistically inclined teenager recently recorded a solo CD of his alternative-style music and is preparing to ship it to a record company for review.

Still, it’s drawing that keeps Michael going, and he doesn’t plan to stop even when he heads to San Antonio for basic training after graduating to hopefully begin a career in the U.S. Air Force.

“I’ll never stop drawing,” he said. “I’m ready to take life by the horns.”

When Cathy walked into the doors of Paola High School about two weeks ago, Michael found a whole new source of inspiration.

Lost Talent

Weakened by a series of chemotherapy treatments, Shawn’s eyes began to well with tears as he peered out the passenger window of the family car.

“He had only cried a few times in his life,” Cathy said.

When asked what was wrong, Shawn simply motioned to the park they were passing and said, “All I want to do is go run in that park, and I can’t.”

The words were tough for Cathy to hear. Shawn’s condition continued to worsen in the spring of 1999, and his spirits were dampened along with it. Still, Cathy will never forget her son’s face when a comic book illustrator from Louisburg walked into Shawn’s hospital room at Olathe Medical Center.

In his arms, the man cradled several of his illustrations, including Shawn’s favorite: Silver Surfer. The event was a surprise for Shawn, and Cathy brought along her son’s sketchbook to show the professional.

“He said (Shawn) had a lot of natural talent, and he wanted to be his mentor after he beat this disease,” Cathy said. Later, she would learn that the illustrator had lost his first wife to cancer.

Despite the special moment, Shawn passed away about six weeks later.

Memory Renewed

When Michael learned about the specifics of the $100 scholarship he had won, his first instinct was to not accept the money. Cathy’s response ended that talk.

“You have no choice,” she told the young art student.

Michael’s art teacher recommended him for the scholarship, which the Leaver family began in 2003 in honor of Shawn. The year was chosen because it was the graduating class of Shawn’s younger sister, Catie.

The first few recipients were friends of Shawn and the family, but now, the money is given to any student that displays artistic talent. There is one other requirement — the winner must draw Cathy a picture.

When Cathy first heard about Michael, her thoughts immediately drifted to Shawn.

“He carries a sketchbook around just like Shawn did,” she said.

And when the two met at Paola High School a few weeks ago, there was an instant connection.

“You think you’d be uncomfortable, but it was really comfortable,” Michael said.

By the end of the meeting, Michael decided he would paint Cathy a picture instead of draw her one. The challenge was no small task since Michael had never done a painting before.

After borrowing some supplies from his godfather, who is a painter, it didn’t take long for Michael to practice his newfound form of artistic expression.

“I ripped off a piece of cardboard from a Dr. Pepper 12-pack and started painting,” he said.

He started the masterpiece in his room but quickly moved to a more practical location.

“I got hungry, so I finished in the kitchen while I was eating a burrito,” he said.

His practice paid off, and during the scholarship awards night last week, he presented his colorful painting to Cathy.

“It represents life in many forms,” Michael said. “She lost life, so I thought I would give her something to hang on to.”

Michael also said he wanted to do something that Cathy wouldn’t forget. Considering the fact that the painting now hangs on the wall in front of Cathy’s desk at American Family Insurance in Paola, odds are she won’t forget the two people she thinks of every time she sees it: Michael and her son.

“I don’t want to ever forget,” she said.