From Mike Rhode comes news that Bob Artley has passed away at the age of 94. Professionally he was the editorial cartoonist at the Des Moines Tribune, Worthington Globe, and was an illustrator and commercial artist in Akron, OH.
In 1952 through 1957 he was employed as an editorial cartoonist with the Des Moines Tribune. After that he became a commercial artist with Nelson Advertizing Agency and later Plain Talk Publishing , both of Des Moines. Bob was active in the Des Moines and surrounding area arts communities. He was a member of the Des Moines Art Center, taught art classes, conducted numerous “chalk talks” at various schools and civic functions, and mentored local aspiring artists. During the 1960’s, he also drew a regular feature that accompanied the weather report on WHO-TV’s evening news.
In 1967 he, his wife and his two younger children moved to Adrian Minn. Where they published a small town newspaper, The Nobles County Review. After a short period of time they purchased a building in Adrian and began The Print Shop, a commercial printing company. During 1971 he began doing some commercial and cartoon work for The Worthington Daily Globe, which eventually led to him doing exclusive cartoon work. During his time there he started a periodic and popular cartoon of life on the farm during his childhood called, “Memories of a Former Kid.” This led in 1978 to the publishing of a book by the same name. He remained at the Worthington Globe until the mid 1980’s.
You can read more of his obituary over at Mike’s blog.