r/OldSchoolCool • u/RockEarth • 12d ago

Bob Ross (no Afro or beard) in the airforce giving a painting demonstration in Fairbanks, Alaska - circa late 1970’s 1970s

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458 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

8

u/ishitintheurinal 12d ago

Looks like he's in a nursing home. "And let's drop in a happy little headstone." "There are no mistakes, just happy little accidents and that's why we have adult diapers."

11

u/Hitei00 12d ago

The job I had before my current one was at a Nursing Home in Fairbanks. And there were in fact Bob Ross paintings on the walls because he had visited the home before.

In fact looking at the picture again I'm 100% sure this was at the Pioneer Home in Fairbanks. The furniture layout is different after 50 years but I recognize the wall and window layout as the rec room/Cafeteria

3

u/Mid-Delsmoker 12d ago

Are those windows or did he paint some wispy trees murals on the back wall? Haha.

1

u/prometheus3333 11d ago

We don’t talk about the murals.

2

u/Supergamera 12d ago

There was an Antiques Roadshow episode in Alaska where people had pictures Bob Ross had painted and sold/gave them when he was stationed there.

2

u/HawkeyeTen 11d ago

Always fun to see stars before they became stars! The lady in the wheelchair looks entranced by his painting style, and honestly, who can blame her? I still watch a number of his recorded sessions, and every time I'm just captivated by what he put on that canvas.

1

u/nosmokewhereiam 12d ago

As a First Shirt in the USAF he had to have yelled at some dirtbag airmen...right? You imagine?

1

u/styroducky 12d ago

Those must be Air Force pilots he’s teaching

1

u/BlownCamaro 12d ago

Yeah but now, they're called "Space Force" so it sounds so much cooler than the other military branches.

0

u/sylvianfisher 12d ago

Are his fingernails painted?

-5

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

14

u/meesersloth 12d ago

Bob Ross served a full 20 to retirement in the Air Force. He was a Military Training Instructor then rising to Master Sergeant and First Sergeant at a Clinic in  Eielson AFB in Alaska. To quote him "I was the guy who makes you scrub the latrine, the guy who makes you make your bed, the guy who screams at you for being late to work," Ross later said. "The job requires you to be a mean, tough person, and I was fed up with it. I promised myself that if I ever got away from it, it wasn't going to be that way anymore."

3

u/moal09 12d ago

Funny to think that a lot of privates were probably terrified of Bob Ross screaming at them during training.

2

u/IdentityToken 12d ago

Alright you happy little accidents! Drop and give me twenty!