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On an alley off of Rainier Ave, you can see a mural of several people riding the Number 7 bus to Prentice Street in Rainier Beach. Tina Albro is the main artist and Jayashree Krishnan is the artist who painted the portraits. I asked Krishnan if any of the passengers were based on real people and it turned out they are all portraits of notable people from the neighborhood. I had only heard of two of them (the founder of Kubota Gardens, and Fred Hutchinson, although I’m barely counting that toward my total because this was the first time I found out he was a baseball player and it was his brother the doctor who founded the cancer research center and named it after him). From right to left they are: The bus driver — Leah McElroy, who drove buses in Seattle for 25 years. Krishnan says McElroy just happened to come by the gallery while she was working on the portraits so she painted her into the mural as the bus driver. The family by the door — Suzy, Lou and Mondo Banchero, a family that co-founded SEED, a nonprofit that helped revitalize the Columbia City neighborhood, and founded Support a Child, a disability advocacy group. From front to back of the bus: Katherine Garrick, banker and one of the first female branch managers in the neighborhood. Fujitaro Kubota, creator of Kubota Gardens. Bob Santos, civil rights activist in Seattle beginning in the 1960s. Ruth Woo, behind-the-scenes political activist who worked with several local politicians including Gary Locke and Ron Sims. Claude Forward, also a co-founder of SEED and activist who helped develop the Columbia Health Center. Fred Hutchinson, baseball legend from Rainier Beach; it was his brother, Dr. William Hutchinson, who named the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center after him when it was founded in 1975, after Fred had passed away from lung cancer in 1964. Aki Kurose, local teacher and peace activist. John L. O’Brien, Speaker of the State House of Representatives who was born and raised in Rainier Valley. Jean Veldwyk, Rainier Valley native who became the first woman real estate broker in Washington. Tom Garrick, Army Air Corps World War II vet and friend of the Hutchinson brothers. https://columbiacitygallery.com/riding-the-number-7-mural/ Jayashree Krishnan also painted a series of 150 portraits of pandemic frontline workers in 2020-21: Happy #MuralMonday! submitted by /u/bennetthaselton |
