When Ted DeGrazia died in 1982, there were those who thought his beloved Gallery in the Sun would die with him.
Perhaps they hadn't counted on Ted's wife, Marion DeGrazia. "She was a tough little lady," says Hal Grieve, whose mother died in 2002 at age 97.
Charged with keeping Ted's legacy — and the gallery — alive during the 20 years between his death and her own, she did just that. Then again, she'd always been at her husband's side — and back.
An artist in her own right, she seemed to retreat into DeGrazia's shadow after they married in 1947.
Even so, "I think he depended on her," says Grieve, 78. "She was sort of the guiding light when it came to finances. She took care of the money and the bills. She had the business sense to make the gallery work."
Initially ensconced in his studio at East Prince Road and North Campbell Avenue, DeGrazia, says Grieve, started feeling hemmed in. "I think the straw that broke the camel's back came when they put up a drive-in theater right across from his place."
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And so DeGrazia bought 10 acres in the Foothills on North Swan Road in the early '50s and started building what would become his home and the Gallery in the Sun. At first, he and Marion hauled water and ice from town to the property. Electricity had yet to arrive.
After DeGrazia burned 100 paintings in 1976 — which Grieve says his mother thought was "a fine idea" — the DeGrazias established a foundation the following year to ensure the gallery's preservation.
Still, by the time of DeGrazia's death, the place was in sad shape, says Grieve, who was named to the board of directors.
The roofs were leaking, the stucco was falling off the walls, valuable art was stacked up. It took a couple of years to get the gallery "back on track."
In 2006 the gallery was named to the National Register of Historic Places, and it now logs about 50,000 visitors a year. "It's a destination now for the tourist industry," says Grieve. "It has a heartbeat of its own."