The Rural Voice, 1986-04, Page 19SIGNS OF THE TIMES
For 44 years, Neil Nutt painted signs on barns,
business enterprises.
The efforts of agricultural sign -
painters on barns, at farm gates,
and at international plowing mat-
ches, speak volumes about the in-
dustry and its people.
In Perth County, the late Neil
Nutt spent more than 40 years of
his life adding to the character and
abundance of farm signs.
He worked at an egg grading sta-
tion in St. Marys for 15 years as a
young man, thus establishing a
bond with agriculture that was
never to be broken. In 1945, he
started a sign painting shop, but
soon left it to accept the job of On-
tario Hydro's painting foreman.
While an employee of hydro, he
worked evenings and Saturdays at
home painting signs for farmers
and businessmen in the area. He
did much of his sign painting in the
kitchen. One day, a banner he had
painted was draped over the
chesterfield, over the chair, and
across the room. "I had to crawl
under it to answer the door,"
recalls his wife Margaret with an
amused smirk on her face. She was
relieved when he retired from
hydro early and used his partial
pension to set up a sign painting
shop. No more signs on the kitchen
table. She became bookkeeper,
general labourer, and sold paint
and wallpaper as part of the new
business.
by Phyllis Coulter
The new shop was complete with
a garage area where tractors, com-
bines, cars, and trucks are pulled
in to be painted.
Neil Nutt started his own
business at age 55 when many peo-
ple are contemplating taking life
easier. "A couple of people told us
how stupid we were," says
Margaret Nutt. But they weren't
discouraged. They started what
has become a mainstay in
agriculture related small businesses
in the community.
About 75 per cent of Neil Nutt's
signs were painted for farmers and
agri-business in the community.
One of their most common signs in
the rural area is the Co-op (UCO)
corn signs. Even today the new
proprietor Liz Jeffery and
employee sign -painter Cheryl Gar-
diner (Neil Nutt's protege) paint at
least 20 Co-op corn signs annually.
These are often posted at corn test
plots throughout the farming com-
munity.
Images of animals are very
popular signs. Neil Nutt used
books from the Western Ontario
Breeders to draw and paint Hols-
tein cows for several dairy barns.
The almost life-size cows — 12 by
8 feet — were among his and
Cheryl's favourite projects.
He was always looking for a bet -
The link between Cheryl Gardiner, Liz Jeffery, the late Neil Nutt and
Margaret Nutt as photographed here in October 1984 is sign painting. Their
signs in the form of dairy cattle heads or bold letters of a family name grace
many barns throughout Ontario. (Photo courtesy of St. Marys Journal -
Argus)
farm gates, and for
ter way to do things and wanted to
find a more efficient and perma-
nent way of lettering barns. He in-
itially experimented with wooden
letters but wasn't satisfied with
their permanency. In 1967 he in-
vented a way of making plexiglas
letters that are mounted on long
plastic strips which can easily be
attached to a barn. The plexiglas
letters are permanent and can also
be moved if the owner buys
another farm.
When Neil Nutt realized how
popular its newly invented plexi-
glas lettering method was becom-
ing among farmers and other
businessmen, he contemplated get-
ting a patent. "We went to a
lawyer in Toronto to see how it
was done," Margaret Nutt recalls.
Unfortunately, they had waited 10
years after the invention and
patents must be acquired within
two years after discovery. That lit-
tle episode cost them $75. Yet, they
weren't too disappointed when the
patent was denied. "It would have
been a pain (to have a patent). We
would have had to check up on
people," she says. Besides it would
have cost too much — about $500,
she adds. ,
The largest barn -lettering pro-
ject they ever did with their un-
patented invention was on the
Hellinger Brothers Farm in Mon-
tana. The project came to them as
a result of their signs at the Inter-
national Plowing Match (IPM)
held in Lucan in 1983. Each letter
on the "Hellinger Bros. Farms"
sign was four -feet high and can be
easily read from more than a
quarter of a mile away. However,
the cost of transportation and pay-
ing custom duty at the border ef-
fectively limits sales to the U.S.
When Liz Jeffery bought the
business in 1984, she had the
benefit of Neil Nutt's 44 years of
sign painting experience and he
still frequently came to the store
offering advice when requested.
Neil Nutt died in November,
1985. Still, hundreds of barns,
farm gates, and business signs
painted by him attest to the con-
tribution he made to the rural com-
munity.
APRIL 1986 17