Century mark: Even at 100, Genevieve Tuck of Monroe keeps drawing

Published 3:46 pm Thursday, August 21, 2008

In the farmhouse near Monroe that she helped build with her husband, Genevieve Tuck still draws every day. She uses colored pencils and stays mostly indoors, but she’ll look out the window and capture vignettes or sketch a still life. The years have dimmed some memories but her passion for art, her compulsion, remains keen.

On June 12, Genevieve Tuck turned 100. And it makes sense that Tuck still draws. She only hit her stride in painting after her beloved husband, Lamoine, died and she had time to devote to her craft. It was then when her painting took off and she went out: Genevieve was a plein air painter, standing outside for hours with her oils, regardless of the weather. It wasn’t uncommon for her to produce three or more paintings a week.

Her work today can be found in galleries and private collections all over the Northwest as well as Canada, Japan and France. She belongs to many groups including the Women Painters of Washington. In 1995 at the age of 87, Genevieve Tuck was named Artist of the Year by the Arts Council of Snohomish County.

We talked with Genevieve Tuck recently about her century of life. Here’s her story, as told to us with help from her daughter-in-law, Michelle Tuck.

A moment in history

Genevieve Johnson was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1908. She remembered when one of the neighbor boys went down with the ship Lusitania in 1915 during WWI and how that really shook up the neighborhood.

The artist years

Genevieve studied art at the University of Washington and graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in 1929. She took odd jobs, such as working as a secretary for the Army, and raised a family while doing occasional watercolors. In 1970 ,she switched to oils and began painting outside. In 1981, at the age of 73, she focused entirely on her art. She painted all over the world, France and Scotland when she was in her 70s. In her 80s, she painted in Alaska and was there for the Iditarod a couple of times. In her 90s, she painted in Canada. Today, one of her favorite mountains to paint remains Mount Index in Sultan.

Her mentor

The renown Western artist Frank Tenney Johnson, who painted frontier landscapes, American Indians and cowboys, was her uncle. A large portrait of him holds a prominent spot in the living room of the Tuck home. The portrait shows Johnson wearing a flashy red bandana around his neck. He looks a bit like Will Rogers.

On the farm

Genevieve married Lamoine Tuck in 1930. One day out of the blue he told her he bought 192 acres and that they were moving. He brought her to the farm near Monroe where they raised five children. There was no electricity, no water. They starved off a couple of times and had to go live with her mother in Seattle. She was seven months pregnant with her last son, Ron, and still running the bulldozer. “I couldn’t help it. He wanted to have a farm and so we had a farm,” Genevieve said. “I’d do it again.”

More on the farm

The Tucks heard of a 13-ton cider press that was for sale from McNeil Island, where the penitentiary was. It went on the auction block and Lamoine won the bid for it at $200. One of the inmates who used to run it on the island came out and helped the couple set it up after he was paroled. The family ran the cider mill for 20 years.

True love

“I was in love with what my husband wanted,” Genevieve said. Lamoine Tuck was a dreamer, an entrepreneur, and approached life with a good attitude. She cared for Lamoine, who became blind the last 18 years of his life. Genevieve helped Lamoine build their farmhouse. Lamoine never saw the living room or the kitchen but they finished those rooms together. The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary together. Lamoine died the next year at 78.

On being 100

“No. That’s pushing it,” Genevieve said laughing.