Are You Related To Norman Rockwell?
Are You Related To Norman Rockwell?
Yes, But It’s Complicated
My grandfather was named Norman Rockwell. So was my father. Thank the Good Lord Above my parents had the sense not to name me Norman Rockwell.
Just having the surname “Rockwell” gets me the weekly question, “Are you related to THE Norman Rockwell?” If I’m in a good mood, I say, OMG, yes, my dad was Norman Rockwell, and elaborate.
My grandfather, the over-the-road-truck driver, Norman Lutzi Rockwell, was born in 1905. The famous painter, Norman Rockwell, would have been about ten years old at the time of his birth. So, unless the painter had some wicked fingerpainting skills, he was not named after the painter.
How did the Rockwell’s decide that they were going to name all of their male heirs “Norman”? I have no idea, nobody knows. ‘Norman’ must have been a super hip name at the time.
Ironically, my father was also in the arts. The cartoon arts.
He spent his life drawing and selling cartoons. He was even published in the Saturday Evening Post!! He was published in almost every English-language magazine known to man. That is not an exaggeration.
In the cartooning world he went by “Norm Rockwell” or just “Rockwell” when he signed his cartoons. It must have been confusing to editors. I mean, who is going to reject a Norman Rockwell cartoon??
Here’s a fun one of his cartoons from back in the day:
In the 1960’s my dad thought it would be fun to write a letter to THE Norman Rockwell.
And what did he write Norman Rockwell about?
My father asked THE Norman Rockwell if they were related!!
And not only that, THE Norman Rockwell actually wrote him back addressing the Norman Rockwell question!! I mean, WTF. That is some celebrity!
Aside: I’ve written Sam Rockwell twenty-two times asking him if we’re related and all he does is have his lawyer send me cease and desist letters.
When my father, Norm Rockwell passed away last year, and I inherited the return letter from the painter Norman Rockwell.
Pretty cool. The letter, not him passing away.
Here is the letter in all it’s typed out glory (click the photo to enlarge):
Now I have this extremely interesting letter… a piece of family history that proves that the Rockwell-side of my family is indeed… very odd.
Maybe it would’ve been good if I’d been named Norman Rockwell. But, I can’t draw or paint, so maybe not.
A picture of my dad, Norm Keith Rockwell, teaching me how to draw when I was eight (?) months old. It didn’t take.
And one more cartoon that I really like:
