World War II icon dies at 82 -- Rockwell model inspired scouts to aid country, community

World War II icon dies at 82 -- Rockwell model inspired scouts to aid country, community

http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_10089289

Monday, August 4, 2008

By James Monteleone The Daily Times

Article Launched: 08/04/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

AZTEC Boy Scouts of America lost its poster face last week when Arthur Robert Hamilton died in Aztec at the age of 82.

Bob Hamilton was best known for his iconic image as the saluting scout in Norman Rockwell's 1944 painting, "We, too, have a job to do," which rallied Boy Scouts to collect cans and rubber, volunteer in the community and raise victory gardens for food during World War II.

But Hamilton, who died July 28, was more than a teen in the right place at the right time when Rockwell put his brush in the paint for the World War II-era image: Hamilton was a life-long scout, family members said.

"He was very much defined by being a Boy Scout," said Alison H. H. King, Hamilton's daughter. "I think he influenced us to be all individuals, do the right thing, go above and beyond, make the right choices and life will pay you back."

In addition to becoming an Eagle Scout at the age of 15, Hamilton became a career fundraiser with the Boy Scouts of America National Council after serving in the U.S. Navy and graduating from the University of Maryland with a degree in accounting.

Hamilton, who grew up in Albany, N.Y., worked with Boy Scouts of America professionally through 1989, when he retired.

He was proud of his image in the renowned Rockwell painting, a print of which Hamilton personally delivered to Vice President of the White House in 1944.

To appear as the painting's model, Hamilton won a competition in his local council.

"When he went in (for the painting), he had a turtle-shell neckerchief slide he made and Norman Rockwell said, Let's put on the regular neckerchief slide,'" King said of Hamilton's modeling experience. "My dad was like, Awe, I was so proud of that I painted on the back of that and Norman Rockwell told me to take it off."

Although the Norman Rockwell painting is nearly 65 years old, the image continues to represent the values of the modern generation of scouts, Boy Scouts of America national spokesman Eric Moore said.

"I think it orbits around the central concept of service. There's always something to be done, whether it's a war or within a local community," Moore said. "Those fundamental ideas of duty and service, those are timeless core values ... A good reminder of those values are crystallized in the paintings of Norman Rockwell."

Hamilton moved to Aztec in 2003 to be close to family members living in the Farmington area while receiving care for Alzheimer's disease.

One son, Farmington resident Chris Hamilton, continues the family's scouting tradition serving as an assistant scoutmaster with local Troop 179.

"He embodied that whole boy scout motto and it fell downstream through his children," son Drew Hamilton said.

Funeral services for Hamilton are pending.

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James Monteleone: jmonteleone@daily-times.com