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John Edward Catterall, formerly of Powell, died on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023 in Austin, Texas, from complications of Alzheimers disease and prostate cancer. He was 83. John had been residing at a nursing facility in Austin to be closer to his son Matthew and family, relocating from Tampa, Florida, in December 2021.
Ever since he was a young boy, John knew he wanted to be an artist. Bill McRann’s Powell High School art classes only confirmed that. At the University of Wyoming, John focused on his art classes, other classes not so much. He suggested to his father that maybe he should instead study art in Barcelona. His father countered that maybe the Marine Corps would be a better option. After three years in the Marines, John returned to Laramie and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1966, then to Washington State University where he received his Master of Fine Arts. What followed was a long career as an academic, teaching art at several colleges and universities. John was director of art departments at Montana State University, New Mexico State University, University of Nevada Las Vegas, and for 16 years at The University of Florida.
John was an avid fly fisherman, not only enjoying the sport itself, but appreciating the beauty of the water and the fish, both of which appeared in much of his artwork, primarily painting and printmaking. He knew well the streams of the Bozeman area and the Big Horns, where he spent many summers at the cabin in Story.
John was born on Jan. 12, 1940, in Sheridan. His grandfather, Charles Catterall, arrived with his wife Cecily and three little girls in Sheridan in 1907 from Lancashire, England, a poor English coal miner who rose to become superintendent of the mine in Alma. His paternal ancestors were relative Wyoming newcomers. His mother’s ancestors arrived in southeast Wyoming in the 1860s from Wales and Ireland. He was very proud of his Wyoming heritage. His father Willard worked for Pan American Petroleum Company, later Standard Oil of Indiana. The family lived in the oil camps when he was young, and he had great memories of a childhood exploring the wild areas around Midwest and Elk Basin. John’s mother Elinor was a homemaker, later an elementary teacher in the Powell schools.
In 1992, the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences honored John’s achievements and recognized him as Outstanding Alumni. In the fall of 2001, he was artist in residence at The Ucross Foundation, the artist residency program on a historic 20,000 acre ranch east of Sheridan. From 1990 through 1996, John served as a Ucross selection juror, and in 2014 Ucross presented a solo exhibition of his artwork, titled Wyoming Dialogues. Another solo exhibition was presented at The Brinton Museum in Big Horn in May of 2011. In addition to The Brinton Museum, his work is in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum in New York and The Detroit Institute of Art.
John was known for his humor and wit and had a rich vocabulary. One colleague said that he upped the ante in any conversation. One had to be at the top of one’s game to keep up.
John married Peggy Repp in Kimball, Nebraska, on June 12, 1964. Peggy was also an art student at the University of Wyoming, and while they didn’t know each other as children, they both lived in the Midwest oil camp in the 1940s. Peggy died in March 1998, after a short battle with melanoma cancer. In 2001 John married artist Diane Elmeer at a ceremony in Val Gardena, Italy. Diane, of Tampa, survives him, as do his sons Matthew (Kate) and granddaughters Clare and Niamh of Austin, and Andrew (Chrissy), granddaughter Lucia and grandson Max of San Francisco. He is also survived by his brother Stephen (Sue) and nephews Peter and Casey. His brother Lee died in 2021.
A memorial service will be held in Tampa on March 4. A private family service celebrating John’s life will be held this summer in Story.
