Pizza shop owner holds meeting to plan Mason Martin mural
EAST BRADY, Clarion County — The south wall of Rocky’s Pizza in East Brady is bare for the moment. The pizza joint’s owner, Ronald “Bucky” Johns, hopes it will one day bear a larger-than-life tribute to a local football family.
Three local artists came to Rocky’s on Sunday afternoon, March 17 to meet with Johns to discuss plans for a mural that would serve as a tribute to Karns City Junior/Senior High School student Mason Martin and his family.
On Sept. 1 last year, Martin suffered severe injuries during his team’s football game against Redbank Valley, and is currently recovering at UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. A month and a half after Mason’s injury, his mother, Stacy, died after a long battle with breast cancer.
Johns, a friend of Mason’s father Denny, was personally struck by the news of the tragedies of the Martin family. For Johns, it was sympathetic, as he suffered through the death of 14-year-old son Ronald S. “Roo” Johns III in 2013.
“I've known Denny for a long time, and I just don’t know how he’s holding on,” Johns said. “I lost a son personally, so I know the feeling of very close loss. I lost a 14-year-old. So I know that pain is unbelievable.”
Karns City Junior/Senior High School is located just nine miles west of Rocky’s Pizza, on the Butler County side of the Allegheny River.
Mason’s injury triggered an outpouring of sympathy from the community, especially in the northeast part of Butler County, which is still going strong six months later. Businesses in Chicora, Karns City, and East Brady still display “Mason Strong” and “Pray for Mason” on their signs or windows, and Rocky’s Pizza is no exception.
“The support has been just absolutely tremendous,” Johns said.
Johns has been public with his intentions to put a mural for the Martin family on the side of Rocky’s Pizza since Saturday, March 9, and has spent the past week reaching out to local artists.
The three artists who showed up on Sunday — Bernie Miloser, J.J. Umbaugh, and Jason Woolslare — all answered the call for similar reasons.
“There was something that came up that was available to do for someone in the community that could really use it, and the whole community could really use it too,” said Umbaugh, who runs the silkscreen printing company Ace Smiley Productions in Ford City. “It's just a chance to give back and do what you can.”
“I followed the Mason story in the fall,” said Woolslare, who is currently an art teacher for the Seneca Valley School District. “I don't know the family, I don’t know him, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t put into words how it made us feel as parents thinking about our own kids.”
Miloser, who owns Studio 413 Fine Arts in Ford City, brought a series of rough sketches for his ideas for the mural, which would incorporate images of Mason in his football uniform as well as images of Mason’s mother, Stacy.
“A buddy of mine said that they were looking for somebody to do a mural in East Brady,” Miloser said. “So I’m definitely interested.”
Whatever goes on the mural, Johns insisted that it incorporate Martin’s favorite Bible verse, Jeremiah 29:11, which reads, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’
“There's certain things that just have to happen, and that's one of them,” Johns said.
Johns says the painting of the mural will be a strictly volunteer effort for the artists. However, painting the mural will not come cheap, as Johns still has to pay for the supplies.
In addition, Johns has been told by multiple experts that the artists cannot start painting on the wall right away; the wall needs to be “primed” first.
“I do know for a fact that the wall needs prep,” Johns said. “I've talked to different people about that. It's going to need a base primer coat to it or a different color paint scheme put on it.”
To aid in his efforts, Johns has started a “mural fund” which will offset the costs of supplies and ensure the artists will not have to pay out of pocket for them. A donation jar for the mural fund is already out on the front counter at Rocky’s Pizza.
“Whatever’s left over will go to the Martin family,” Johns said.
