Remembering Andrea Gurdon

Longtime hobbyist and fellow model horse history nerd blogger Andrea Gurdon passed away on Saturday after a battle with cancer. While I didn't know Andrea well, we chatted a bit over the years at BreyerFest, and my sister and I always made a point to pick up her Morning Glory Ranch Sampler newsletter. 

Andrea at BreyerFest 2023

(photo by Shaun Basch)

Andrea began collecting in the 1970s, and by her own account, dabbled in a little of everything related to the hobby---showing, customizing, pedigree assignment, and even tack making. Her chief interest over the years became Breyer history, and since 2009, she regularly posted to her Breyer History Diva blog. She shared interesting tidbits about Breyer history as well as stories of her own collecting journey. 

Andrea was a regular at BreyerFest, participating in room sales, the live show, the hobby information booth, and the costume contest in particular. Sewing and quilting were another of her favorite hobbies, so it's no surprise she regularly excelled in the latter.

Clockwork Andrea 
(photo by Shaun Basch)

Some years ago at BreyerFest, I arrived earlier in the week than usual, and while wandering around the CHIN shopping in the middle of the day, I found Andrea's room. She had acquired some of Marney Walerius' photo albums, and we spent a fun afternoon flipping through the photos and exclaiming over the fascinating test run models pictured within. Andrea was such a font of knowledge, and it was a blast to talk to someone who enjoyed discussing odd minutiae as much as I do. 

Andrea's MGR sampler from BF 2023

Andrea's close friend Shaun related that what Andrea feared most was being forgotten. Though she has left us too soon, Andrea's blog is a tremendous repository of information and a window into her quirky sense of humor. So many hobbyists have read it over the years, and I hope we can find a way to preserve her posts to honor her contributions to the hobby and her memory. I am hoping (with permission of course) to scan all the MGR samplers I've picked up over the years and add them to the Model Horse History website I have been very slowly and haltingly building as a repository of hobby publications and ephemera. It's a small thing, but I hope it would make Andrea happy.

Remembering Linda Walter

I did not expect to start off the new year blogging about another sad loss to the model horse hobby community, but alas, we have lost Linda Walter. I didn't know Linda well, but I had known of her almost as soon as I became aware of the hobby in the late 1980s. Linda was not only a founding member of the hobby---she was a talented artist, a dedicated publisher, an amazing font of knowledge, and a truly kind and good-humored person. I know she'd have had something funny and self-deprecating to say if she knew how many of us looked up to her as an icon of the hobby.

Photo of Linda from an article in her local paper
(Photo by Robbyn Brooks)

Linda became active in the nascent model horse hobby in the mid 1960s, and along with Marney Walerius and others, is considered one of the hobby's founding members. Like most early hobbyists, Linda was an avid photoshower, and in 1969, she started her own newsletter, the Model Horse Showers Journal. It featured ads for photoshows, sales lists, stallion ads for pedigree assignment, hobby news, and so much more. Linda drew all of the illustrations and produced all of the copies herself, first using a type writer and carbon paper and later a mimeograph. (Photocopiers were not yet widely available.) The MHSJ is one of the most important and influential early hobby publications, and by the time Linda stopped publishing it in 1980, she had a circulation of more than 700 subscribers.

One of Linda's hand-illustrated covers

Linda hard at work at her typewriter
(from the Spring 1978 issue of Just
About Horses)

The first 3 decades of the hobby largely revolved around communication through the mail. Many hobbyists met via classifieds ads in real and model horse publications and became pen pals. Others got to know each other through newsletters and photoshows. For a time, Breyer directed many of the questions they received about the hobby to Linda. She was even featured in their own publication, Just About Horses, in Spring 1978.

Linda on the cover of the
Spring 1978 issue of Just
About Horses

So it's no surprise that when I had questions about Hagen-Renakers that my local hobby friends couldn't answer in the early 1990s, I was told to contact Linda. It was not unusual to cold-call other collectors then, and with some encouragement from my parents, I gave Linda a call. She very sweetly chatted with me and explained that even though my HR Morgans looked sort of pinkish-grey, the color really was called "brown" by collectors. I don't remember what all we talked about besides HRs, but she was kind and enthusiastic and put my nervous teenage self at ease. She followed up the call with a letter which my mom happily saved. I'm pretty sure it has some of Linda's equine doodles on it.

I finally met Linda in person some 20 years later at BreyerFest. She brought loads of clinky minis to sell from her room at the CHIN, and I'm so glad I had the chance to buy a few and chat with her. She also graciously gave me permission to scan old copies of the MHSJ and post them on my Model Horse History website for the hobby at large to enjoy.

Linda's famous Beswick Appaloosa, Alconbury Hill
(Photo by Robbyn Brooks)

I am going to miss Linda's indomitable good cheer and clever puns at BreyerFest this July. It was always a treat to talk with her, and I wish I'd had more time to ask her about her involvement in the hobby in the early days. She was a treasure, and she will be much missed.

Remembering Krista Wasco

Life is full of surprises, and you never know how the smallest action can lead to something so huge and impactful as a wonderful friendship.

In May 2001, I made a post on Haynet-Exchange, the old hobby Yahoo group for buying and selling model horses, asking to trade my customizing skills for a Peter Stone pony called Sassy. The model had been released a few weeks earlier at Stone's Mayfest event in Shipshewana, IN, and I thought it was a really lovely piece. I was in grad school in Chicago at the time, so I hadn't really been aware of the event until after it was over. Not long after posting, I got a reply from Krista Corry, a hobbyist I didn't know, and she offered me her extra pony. She said it had a small flaw in the paint, but I told her I didn't mind, and she was just as happy to trade for my beginner level painting.

The pony that started it all

It turned out Krista was a fellow Minnesotan who was living just a few hours north of me in Fond Du Lac, WI, and her fiancé just happened to have family in Chicago where I was in school. The next time they were in town, they made a point to stop by to meet me. We had a wonderful time visiting, traded horses, and made a promise to meet up at BreyerFest later that summer. We continued to exchange emails and found we had similar tastes in movies and especially music (grunge, punk, and anything Chris Cornell did), as well as the same snarky sense of humor.

That one silly pony kicked off a 20+ year-long friendship and perpetual pony swap. Krista was glad to send me various OFs and resins of which I would keep a few and paint the rest for her. She even once traded me a window air-conditioning unit for my sweltering apartment in exchange for custom paint jobs. It makes me laugh every time I think of it.

As time went on, we became fast friends and made a point to get together every chance we could. At the Great Lakes Congress in Chicago in 2004, we roomed together and had so much fun all weekend. Krista, who was a talented tack maker and performance shower, took me under her wing and helped me start showing performance. She was generous with her talent and time, and she was always happy to lend tack or advice to anyone who needed it. I learned so much from her.

Krista tacking up her favorite breed

A beautiful Western saddle and bridle made by Krista

My favorite picture of us at GLC

Krista grew up with real horses and earned an equine science degree in college. She was a serious competitor in Western speed events from a young age. As she was in all aspects of her life, Krista was bold and fearless on horseback.

Krista barrel racing

Her heart horse was a bay Quarter Horse gelding named Trouble. His registered name was Sea Deck Go, and he was a great-great-great-grandson of the famous racehorse Seabiscuit. Krista and Trouble kicked ass and took names wherever they went.

Krista pole-bending with Trouble

Sea Deck Go aka Trouble

Krista’s beloved Trouble made the leap into the model horse world when I painted a portrait of him for her on DeeAnn Kjelshus' "Let's Roll" resin. The creativity and versatility of her performance entries was always so impressive, and just like with his real life counterpart, Krista enjoyed great success with model Trouble in just about every performance discipline.

Trouble spinning towards the last fence in a timed jump off

Trouble pole-bending in tack Krista made to match their real gear

A few months after attending GLC, we decided to hit the road together to travel to BreyerFest. To say we had a blast is an understatement. We laughed about loud ice machines, creepy hotel clerks, faulty fire alarms, and hilarious no-diving-or-your-head-will-break-off-and-lightning-will-shoot-out signs. (Trust me, it's really funny when you're punchy from lack of sleep because you showed at NAN until midnight for two days.)

Hanging out with Krista at BreyerFest was always an adventure. We showed at NAN and the BreyerFest Open Show, spectated at the not-a-NAN event, wandered the halls of the HIN/CHIN until the wee hours, and visited a bunch of horse farms over the years. 

Krista feeding a mint to Speightstown at Winstar

Krista and I with Tiznow

After she got married, Krista and her husband Mark moved to Sioux Falls, SD. One year after BreyerFest, I rode all the way back to Sioux Falls with her. We left Kentucky after the Sunday raffle (we didn't win, but not for lack of trying), drove through a crazy, intense thunderstorm, got asked for our numbers at a sandwich shop in Wisconsin, giggled like lunatics at Happy Bunny stickers at a gas station at two in the morning in the middle of nowhere, and finally rolled into Sioux Falls rocking out to Nine Inch Nails at 4am. I spent a couple of days with Krista noodling around Sioux Falls, and then we headed back to Minnesota to spend time with my family at my grandma's cottage. Grandma was also a horse person, and having lived through Seabiscuit's racing days, she was so impressed with and interested in Trouble and his famous ancestor. We had such a ridiculous amount of fun sharing stories during her stay with us.

Krista wanted very much to be a mom, and life with four kids kept her very busy. I didn't get to see her as much when they were young, but we definitely made the most of our time together when we could. 

Krista and baby Jack at BreyerFest

BF shenanigans with my sister, me, and Krista

At BreyerFest 2018, Krista was thrilled to meet one of her equestrian idols, champion barrel racer Charmayne James. She gushed about how amazing it was to get to talk to her at the Kentucky Horse Park, and I was so delighted for her when they ended up on the same flight out of Lexington and got to chat even more. 

Not even a twisted ankle could stop Krista at BF!

 

Krista was also a huge animal lover, adopting strays and purebreds alike. She loved all horses, too, but Quarter Horses, Saddlebreds, and especially cremellos were her favorite. She was good at anything she set her mind to, from making model horse tack to sewing clothes to learning sign language. Krista was the very embodiment of kindness, generosity, and compassion. 

 

Life threw an unfair number of curve balls at Krista, but her kids were her world, and she was their fiercest advocate. She would have done literally anything for them. She was a champion for autism awareness, trans-rights, and the LGBTQ community. Her kids loved Star Wars, and she took Space Mom (General Leia/Carrie Fisher) as her patron saint. We all remember her as a fierce mama bear and a strong woman who spoke out for what was right, but I know Krista would tell us she was just doing what had to be done.

It feels so unreal and wrong that we have lost such a vibrant, selfless, amazing force of nature like Krista. I'm devastated by the loss of my dear friend, and my heart is absolutely broken for her family, especially her kids. The outpouring of love from her friends has at least helped me bear my grief a little more easily. I hope Krista knew how many lives she touched and how many people loved her. She’ll always be remembered, and she’ll always be my best friend.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a Gofundme set up for mark and the kids.