Capac doctor and his wife honored with portrait

Dr. Norbert and Alberta Conrad support senior center

 

CAPAC — Like many people throughout Capac and surrounding areas, Joe Leonard has had plenty of contact with Dr. Norbert Conrad over the well-known doctor’s decades-long career. Leonard, who says he is a “Capac boy, through and through” attributes his recent success to Dr. Conrad in a humorous way.

“When I was a kid, I was always getting busted up somehow,” Leonard recalled. “My parents would take me to the doctor and Doc would sew me up with stiches or put me in a cast and send me on my way.”

Leonard went on to say, “it’s because of Doc and always being in a cast that I had to learn to write with both hands. Now that I do portraits and drawings, I do it using both hands, because back then, one of my hands or arms was always in a cast for something.”

Leonard, who most recently has become very talented with his drawings and portrait painting work, has developed quite a following, including local community members.

As a result, in an effort to honor Dr. Conrad and his wife, Alberta, Leonard painted a portrait of the popular couple from Capac and unveiled the portrait Tuesday morning in a brief ceremony.

“I was talking with Randy Schulz and we felt like it was the right thing to do, to do a portrait of them, and I was more than happy to do it,” Leonard said. “They have done so much for this community, in particular with the Community Center.”

According to Leonard, the Conrads gifted the property and financial backing to have the Dr. Norbert and Alberta Conrad Community Center constructed.

The facility is largely used for senior citizen programs and activities.

Leonard, who is one of a handful of artists who takes their talents to other countries for doing portraits, said it was an easy decision to honor the Conrads.

“I’ve known Doc since I was a kid, probably at least 55 years,” he said. “I was happy to do this.”

Leonard, who was an athlete while going to school at Capac, said his portrait business, “has blown up to be something bigger that I ever dreamed.”

He said he has “several weddings to do ‘live portraits,’ sketching and painting the couple while the ceremony is going on.”

The new portrait of the Conrads will adorn the wall of the entry to the Community Center for years to come. Leonard used hardwood from an old Grand Trunk caboose to make the frame for his masterpiece.

While the Conrads knew about the portrait, they had no idea what it looked like, until Tuesday morning when it was unveiled during a special gathering.

Leonard said he uses high-end, quality oils and a specialty Belgian canvas for his portraits.

“In this case, I made the portrait from a photograph,” Leonard said. “I think it turned out pretty nice and was honored to do it. They are such great people and have done so much for the Capac community.”