Tender-Hearted: Guy Gillette's Portrait of rural East Texas during the Fifties and Sixties Page: 2 of 4
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bulky 4x5 Speed Graphic cameras, Guy saw the potential of 35 mm photography
for capturing candid slices of life.
In 1952 Guy landed a choice assignment. He spent three months at the
height of the Korean Conflict documenting the the American Red Cross's role in
that theater of war. His photos from the front-line and M.A.S.H. units ran in
national magazines and won him "Best Picture Story of the Year" honors from
the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
Guy's penchant for poignant moments led to other picture stories. He
documented the plight of the elderly and urban ghetto youth in New York City.
He photographed people at work--a neurosurgeon in training, a South Carolina
produce truck driver, a traveling salesman in Missouri, and laborers at a
Kentucky bourbon factory and cooperage.
During the Fifties and Sixties, Guy inadvertently put together his most
personal "picture story."
After the birth of their first son, Guy, in 1945 (second son, Pipp, came
along in 1950), the Gillettes traveled to Texas every summer for family visits.
Sometimes they'd take the train--boarding at New York's bustling Penn Station
and getting off, seemingly a world away, at the Lilliputian depot of Lovelady.
Sometimes they'd trek by car.
As a fun father-and-sons project, Guy began photographing life around
the Porter ranch. Besides, he considered his father-in-law, V.H. "Hoyt" Porter, a
fascinating subject.
Hoyt Porter began farming cotton at Lovelady in 1912. As cotton markets
changed, he moved into cattle ranching, and his wife, Lucy, ran a general
merchandise store in town. At six-foot, four-inches-tall and 240 pounds, Hoyt
proved an imposing figure, a tough man of strong will. But he had a soft spot for
his grandsons, who called him "Big Daddy."
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Mallory, Randy. Tender-Hearted: Guy Gillette's Portrait of rural East Texas during the Fifties and Sixties, text, 1999-11~; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1924077/m1/2/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.