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Mural will bear a tribute to originator

Jack Klick wanted a mural of New Port Richey. Now his face will be part of the art.

By JODIE TILLMAN
Published January 10, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - Jack Klick was a man of many passions. The mural became one of them.

The mural: Klick, a retiree who had developed an interest in art, wanted to see one downtown. He researched historic photographs, observed other cities' outdoor murals, sought an artist, agreed to pay the bill.

The product of this yearlong effort was a proposal for a four-panel painting on the county building on Main Street. Based on old photographs, it shows people boating and swimming in the Pithlachascotee River in the 1920s.

But as it turns out, Klick's quest will do more than highlight the city's history. The mural also promises a certain degree of immortality - for Jack Klick.

Klick died of a stroke in November at age 65, less than two months before the mural proposal went public.

To remember Klick, Greater New Port Richey Main Street's mural committee of which he was a member wants his face to be painted on a figure in the mural operating a Chris-Craft boat.

"I thought it was extremely fitting," said Klick's sister, Joanne Chamberlain, who lives in Tallahassee.

Keith Goodson, the Pensacola artist Klick found to paint the New Port Richey mural, will begin working later this month. The project, which was approved by Pasco County commissioners Tuesday, will take about eight weeks. No one is saying how much Klick paid for the mural.

So who was this Jack Klick, the man driving the boat, both literally and figuratively, on the new mural?

He was a "country kid" from New York, son of a factory worker and a homemaker mother. He wrote speeches and worked on radio stations as a communications officer in the Air Force.

He retired to New Port Richey in 1988 because he loved boats and the ocean.

He lived with his cats on Morningstar Lane.

He read military history and fantasy fiction. Enjoyed cooking and art. Liked Gilbert and Sullivan but loved the Bangles, the all-female rock band whose lyrics he studied as if they were poetry.

His visage will be painted in soft colors on the pressure-washed walls of the county building. His ashes will be spread at sea.

Times staff writer David DeCamp contributed to this report. Jodie Tillman can be reached at (727) 869-6247 or jtillman@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 9, 2007, 23:00:04]