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DPS Alum Roy Watson
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DPS Alumni
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Current Profile:
Roy Watson
Manual Training High School, class of 1940
Other DPS schools attended: Ebert Elementary School &
Cole Junior High School
Even before Roy Watson was a teenager he dreamed of becoming a graphic artist. During his junior high school years he would visit with many local commercial artists including Denver Post newspaper artists such as Paul Gregg, editorial cartoonist; Gretchen Weber, fashion artist; and Mr. Johnson, who planned the theater ads.
Watson spent many noontime visits with Frank Philips, art director for The Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Mr. Philips would carry his lunchbox to work and Watson would be there at noon to receive Mr. Philips’ advice. One day he said, “Watson, you like to draw, but in advertising the word is as important as the illustration. Learn to hand letter and know the many alphabets.”
Watson begged his way into working as an apprentice at Artcraft Sign Company, even working for nothing if they would just teach him to ‘letter.’ They gave him a quart jar of poster color a week, plus the use of their good lettering quills and all of the paper he needed. Watson’s mother would say, “They’re taking advantage of you!” Watson replied, “No Mom, they’re teaching me how to hand letter.”
As he learned the craft, he would ride his bicycle around Denver, stopping at every grocery and drug store, showing them a sample of his window posters to advertise their weekly specials. The stores that agreed on his price of 15¢ per poster were contacted by phone every Wednesday afternoon when he returned from school. The stores would have their copy ready and Watson would work late into the night finishing the advertisements. He would deliver the signs on his bicycle the next morning before going to school.
Growing up, Watson knew he had the natural ability to become an artist. His senior quote in the high school graduation program said it all – “In ten years I hope to be a struggling artist.” Watson lived up to his prediction; however, it is doubtful he was ever a “struggling” artist. Over the years he has worked for countless local and national companies as well as government agencies designing everything from logos to promotional coloring books. His story isn’t one of Hollywood success and glamour, but a story that embodies the value of persistence, the importance of hard work and the aid of a bit of good luck.
Watson is a Denver Native and a graduate of Denver Public Schools. He attended Ebert Elementary School, Cole Junior High School and graduated from Manual Training High School in 1940. Watson grew up in Downtown Denver during the Great Depression. His parents, Ruth and Milton, and his brother Harold, lived in a small apartment directly above the Denver Public Bathhouse. Growing up, his father was the superintendent of the Bathhouse, now the Twentieth Street Recreation Center. As Watson put it, “Growing up we were like rich kids. We had a pool and a gymnasium. We invited school friends over all the time to play and swim.” Despite being able to swim whenever he wanted, Watson, like many kids growing up during the depression, did not have much but he never let the reality of his situation discourage him from following his dream.
Watson attributes his artistic abilities to his father and grandmother. Growing up he remembers thumbing through his grandmother’s sketch book. It was full of her original drawings. He looked through that book time and time again admiring his grandmother’s work. His dad used to draw editorial and political cartoons for the old Denver Times newspaper.
In school, Watson was not always the best student. As he put it, “all I cared about was drawing.” His favorite class was art with Miss Helen Carpenter at Cole Junior High. When asked about his favorite school memory, without hesitation he said, “designing and painting the 8 foot tall, 16 foot wide posters for the Manual School Dances.” These posters hung from the large stairwell between the first and second floors at Manual High School. However, not all of his time was dedicated to drawing. Watson worked hard in school so he could maintain academic edibility to swim for Manual’s swim team.
In his senior year of high school, with the help of art teacher, Mr. Idris Thomas, Watson was awarded a scholarship by the American Association of University Women to study a year and a half at the Fine Arts Center at Colorado Springs. After the year and a half, and although he had a scholarship renewal pending, he accepted a job at the advertisement agency of Rippey, Henderson. Kostka & Co. and didn’t return to fulfill the scholarship.
After Pearl Harbor, Watson’s life suddenly changed. He joined the Navy and went to gunnery school and served on three different ships in both the Atlantic and Pacific taking part in landings in the Marshall Islands and Guam. While the last ship he was on was loading at the 9th Avenue Pier in Oakland, California, Watson met Lena, the love of his life. They corresponded until the war was over. Lena came to Denver on January 1, 1946 and they were married on January 13.
Watson returned to the ad agency the same day he arrived home from the Navy, working there for 19 years before starting his own company, Watson Ad Art. He freelanced and over the years worked for many different companies such as Cahners’ Publishing out of Boston, Petroleum Information Corporation, Windsor Industries, Coors Ceramics, Rocky’s Autos, the Denver Police Department, Western Electric and Safeway.
Watson is an avid baseball fan. As he put it, “I left the ad agency because I wanted to work for myself; I wanted to watch baseball and draw at the same time.” One of his proudest accomplishments was sponsoring a local little league baseball and basketball team for 9 years.
One of Watson’s most memorable projects was his attempt to become a syndicated comic artist. In 1954, Watson submitted his pilot comic strip, “Tot Shots,” to the Public Relations Management Corporation in New York City. The comic strip was based on the adventures of his two oldest children Bob and Patty. As Watson put it, “Some of the ideas were from direct observation of watching the children at play.” The art work and comedy were light-hearted and genuine. However, the pilot was rejected. The letter Watson received from the syndicate stated they thought “Tot Shots” was fine but turned it down only because two months prior to Watson’s submission they had launched a new kid series and they did not want to compete against themselves. Sadly, “Tot Shots” was never submitted to anyone again and was never pursued any further, as Watson had all of the work he could handle making a living to support his growing family.
Watson continues to have ties to Denver Public Schools. He is an active member in Manual High School’s Alumni Association, “The Friends of Manual.” He was the chairman of his 50th high school reunion committee and participates in a weekly coffee hour open to all Denver Public School Alumni.
Lena and Roy build a beautiful home together in Lakewood, Colorado where he still lives to this day. The Watsons have four children (Robert, Patricia, Rosetta and Penny), nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Roy formally retired from advertising in 1990 at the age of 68. However, you can still catch him drawing in his workshop on a daily basis. One of Roy’s favorite leisure activities is to make greeting and birthday cards for his closest friends and relatives.
Roy Watson lived his dream with his wife of 62 years, Lena, who was his “right hand” – Roy is left handed. Lena did the bookkeeping, typesetting, billing and most of all, proofreading. As he put it, “I never had to solicit for work, and with Lena’s help, I stayed happy doing what I enjoyed most.”
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President of the Colorado State Senate
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