ARLINGTON, VT. — It’s an iconic painting used by the Boy Scouts of America for decades: A teenage boy with a steady gaze and a neat Scout uniform, right hand aloft in a proud three-finger salute.
But Buddy Edgerton, 82, arrived in Arlington on Saturday morning with a little secret.
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Delightful article! Thanks for posting.
The model for the girl in "Marbles Champ" was my mother, Sandra Bayliss. She turned 11 years old shortly after the painting was published om the cover of the Saturday Evening Post in September, 1939. She lived in Arlington with her mother, Lois, and her two brothers, Jonathan and Peter, and their photo album from that period has the original cover from their copy of the magazine. When my siblings, cousins and I were growing up the story was part of our family history and we frequently asked her to make the face that Mr. Rockwell captured so well in his painting, which always made her look like that little girl again. She liked the painting, except that she said Mr. Rockwell made her wear that dress. She would never have worn a dress when playing marbles!