Dolly Genevieve Smoot

Female 1932 -


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  • Name Dolly Genevieve Smoot 
    Born 20 Dec 1932  Kanawha Co. WV Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Notes 
    • Times-News, Burlington, N.C., Real People column

      GRAHAM, Sep 26, 2011 (Menafn - Times-News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --The paintings on the walls of Dolly Vipperman's apartment might be paint-by-numbers, but her work is no child's play.

      The pieces she completes are of detailed natural scenes with thousands of numbered spaces -- many as small as the head of a pin.

      "The secret is a lot of patience and a good, steady hand," Vipperman, 78, says. "It's relaxing to sit and paint. It's good therapy, too."

      Since 1992, when she first started collecting the sets, she's done hundreds of paintings. Many are landscapes and nature scenes -- eagles in flight, birds and flowers, countryside cottages. Others are amazingly accurate reproductions of masterpieces, like da Vinci's "Mona Lisa," which hangs in her living room.

      It takes Vipperman about two weeks to finish most paintings, depending on the detail involved. Detailed street scenes take the longest and she doesn't like painting most animals. Snow scenes, she's learned, nearly blind her because the variations of whites and blues used are so similar.

      Incidentally, she's currently completing a painting of a cardinal on a snowy branch for her daughter, Donna Heddington.

      "This one will take me a month! I ought to make her do it herself," Vipperman said, laughing, shooting her daughter a sly look.

      Next on her list is a New York City skyline scene featuring the World Trade Center towers. Heddington orders the sets for her mother through catalogs and online. Most hobby stores don't carry many paint-by-number sets anymore, they said.

      Most sets come with 18 paint colors. Vipperman often has to mix multiple colors to create additional shades required for an illustration. She's become something of an expert at it.

      Vipperman keeps a collection of brushes, many of which she's cut down to just a sliver of brush for edging and extremely small spaces.

      "Two hairs and some air," she says, showing off a brush she fashioned.

      Vipperman gets pleasure from the craft, and calls herself "a painter, not an artist." She also says the hobby keeps her from boredom and a life dependent on TV watching to pass the time. She isn't lonely when she paints, hovered over the canvas with a magnifying glass in one hand and a brush in the other.

      As much as she enjoys creating the paintings, she enjoys giving them away more. Because there simply isn't enough room to hang all her works at home, she gives them to family members, friends and local organizations.

      An eagle she painted is with the Audubon Society. Her painting of American woodpeckers, along with their Latin names, hangs in the Graham Middle School library. She gave her great-granddaughter a framed painting with a letter passed down from her own grandmother, to be opened on the girl's 16th birthday. Heddington, who styles hair for a living, often gives the paintings to special customers.

      She notes that well-done paint-by-number sets gain value over time. Some even hang in the Smithsonian Institution, she says.

      Vipperman was born and raised near Bradley, W. Va. She loved art from the get-go, and spent as much time coloring as she could. She enrolled in an art class and met her first husband, Johnny Fontana, there. They were married at 20 and had three children: Tony, David and Donna. Fontana was killed after a tragic accident at the age of 26.

      She was always good with her hands. In Orlando, she worked as a seamstress in her own shop, Dolly's Sewing Boutique, making wedding gowns and men's suits. Then she switched to upholstering furniture.

      She moved to the Burlington area in 1985, marrying Laten Vipperman, who ran Signs Etc. on South Church Street before his death.

      Now she and Heddington share a Graham apartment. Vipperman keeps house while Heddington works to pay the bills. Well into her 70s, Vipperman can still wallpaper. She brags too about being able to hang sheetrock, repair and install plumbing and fix things herself.

      "I'm little, but I'm loud," she quips.

      As she approaches her 79th birthday this December, Vipperman hopes other seniors will find productive hobbies to help keep their minds sharp. She also hopes that when the Children's Museum of Alamance County opens next year, she'll be able to visit and run workshops with children about how to paint-by-numbers.

      Michael Abernethy can be reached at mabernethy@thetimesnews.com or 336-506-3042.
    Person ID I21438  Master File
    Last Modified 23 May 2013 

    Family 1 Johnnie Fontana,   b. 31 Aug 1932, Herndon, Wyoming Co. WV Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 30 Mar 1958, Fayette Co. WV Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 25 years) 
    Married 14 Oct 1951  Raleigh Co. WV Find all individuals with events at this location 
    • West Virginia Vital Records
      www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=11523334&Type=Marriage
    Children 
     1. Tony Fontana
     2. David Fontana
     3. Donna Fontana
    Last Modified 23 May 2013 
    Family ID F9953  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Laten John Vipperman,   b. 23 Sep 1933, Raleigh Co. WV Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 24 Dec 1991, Burlington, Alamace Co. NC Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 58 years) 
    Married Aft 1985  Burlilngton, NC Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 23 May 2013 
    Family ID F9952  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart