Artist's passion for caring lives on

Wal-Mart will help sell T-shirts featuring works by Robyn Beverland, who died in 1998, to benefit local arts and the Oldsmar Little League.

By ED QUIOCO

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 10, 2001

OLDSMAR -- Robyn "The Beaver" Beverland was never a good ballplayer.

His parents wondered why their son always struck out at the plate despite playing several seasons of Little League. It wasn't until years later that they discovered he suffered from a rare genetic disorder called Wolfram syndrome.

"He never hit the ball," said his father, Oldsmar Mayor Jerry Beverland. "We never understood why, but he kept playing. Then we found out that he was going blind."

Robyn Beverland overcame the obstacles he faced and became an award-winning, nationally known folk artist before he died from complications of the disorder in 1998.

Now, his artwork will be used to benefit the Little League that he loved so much and the local arts movement, Jerry Beverland said.

As part of the grand opening ceremonies of the Wal-Mart supercenter on Tampa Road, T-shirts displaying Robyn Beverland's artwork will be sold and the proceeds of the sale will go to the Oldsmar Little League and the Oldsmar Cultural Arts Foundation.

"It's just something else where Robyn can touch people," Jerry Beverland said. "He never used (his illness) as an excuse. If we used it as an excuse, he wouldn't accept it."

For the store, this will be a good way to be a part of the community, said Rob Phillips, Wal-Mart spokesman. Virtually all of the company's store openings include fundraisers that benefit local charities.

So far this year, the company has opened about 150 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores and raised $1.4-million for charities during grand opening fundraisers, Phillips said. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has annual sales of $191-billion and operates more than 2,600 stores and supercenters and 480 Sam's Clubs in the United States.

"Grand openings just turn out to be a great opportunity for our stores to get a good start in community involvement," Phillips said.

Local store officials are working on the details for the plan and Jerry Beverland and his wife, Wanda, will pick which paintings to use for the T-shirts.

The plan is for the shirts to be sold at the store during sidewalk sales or at the Little League fields on Tampa Road and the Arts Centre on St. Petersburg Drive, said store manager Kerrie Gafford.

The $8-million, 208,000-square-foot supercenter, which is scheduled to open in mid October, will be on 28 acres at 3801 Tampa Road. Along with everything that a regular Wal-Mart offers, the supercenter will have a grocery store, a portrait studio, a nail salon, a hair salon and several other specialty shops.

Robyn Beverland's paintings, which are characterized by childlike designs and bold colors, can be found in galleries and museums throughout the country. His work was picked to illustrate a card sent out by sponsors of the international Paralympic Games in 1996.

Last year, city officials and the Oldsmar Little League approved naming the baseball complex at Canal Park on Tampa Road after Robyn Beverland, because of his perseverance.

The fatal illness battered his body and left him with a stumbling walk, a stutter, constant sweat, bladder problems and diminished eyesight. Before his condition was diagnosed, he endured taunts from classmates because he was uncoordinated, Beverland said.

His parents recently came across one of their son's paintings of a little red dog with wings wearing a baseball cap and wielding a bat.

The painting has the words, "C'mon Beaver, hit the ball."

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