The late Robert Perrin: home for the holidays at Four India
BY MARLI GUZZETTA
This week, The Gallery at Four India's owner, Kathleen

Kathleen Knight's door at The Gallery at Four India is always a tip of the hat to her late and great friend C. Robert Perrin. If her Family Reunion/Flying Wallendas-themed door wins the Chamber of Commerce's door decorating contest (again) this year, it will be a record fifth straight win.

Knight, goes for a record fifth straight win in the Chamber of Commerce door-decorating contest. The theme of her decoration this year is "Family Reunion." Knight has created a doorframe with handmade models of Circus Flora's Flying Wallendas - who come complete with little moustaches and shadows from the spotlight as they dive and dip and swing.

But no matter how many kids big and small stop to take in the doorway and its colors of Christmas magic, there is a more beautiful story behind Knight's decorations - this year and every year.

Knight chose the "Family Reunion" theme for her Christmas decorations as a way to honor the 40th anniversary of the Whopper coloring book, a Nantucket-themed coloring book illustrated by the late C. Robert Perrin, who is treated by Knight every year as an ever-present and ever-loved Ghost of Christmas Past.

They were good friends, Knight and Perrin, the patriarchal Nantucket artist known for his "Perrin puddles," as well as for seagulls, fog, Nantucket wildflowers and ghosts.

"I met him when I was 21 years old one evening on Nantucket on a starry night in the middle of summer," Knight remembered. "I was out painting on the streets of Nantucket. I wasn't having a good evening painting, and he stopped to give me some tips, and by the end of the evening, we were the best of friends. He believed in me when no one else did."

The friendship flourished when Knight became president of the Artists' Association of Nantucket, of which Perrin was a member. The two often attended art events, dinners and social outings together.

"We bonded all through the years, and then when I opened the gallery in 1989, he wanted to be the first artist I was representing. So he came along with me, and he always believed in me," said Knight, who explained that Perrin was a perennial bachelor because he refused to marry. Coming over to Nantucket fresh from World War II (where he'd served as an army illustrator), Perrin dedicated himself to painting and thought it was ignoble for a struggling artist to take a woman as his wife.

Through his works and his memory, Perrin is still everywhere on this island. But when Perrin was alive, you could only find him on Christmas Eve at Knight's gallery, where she organized her Christmas activities around him. Perrin would dress up as Santa Claus or as a peg-legged captain and then he would hold court from the gallery, while a line of children wanting to share a minute with Perrin would form around the block and get a copy of his Whopper book, which he always signed.

"For Bob, the Christmas show was so special, because he was alone at Christmas time, and a lot of people didn't realize that," Knight said. "So this was his way of being a part of a family Christmas, and he cherished it. At the end of the day, I made him a turkey leg, and he went home with a smile on his face, because he had made so many kids happy. Then, I'd have him over on Christmas Day, so he wouldn't have to be alone."

His personality took well to kids, Knight said. "He was quite the showman - he had a ventriloquist duck named Somewhat Quacky who would talk while Bob was the dummy, and the kids loved that. ... He always had wooden nickels in his pocket. He loved to give things away to children, and get them interested in art."

Knight actually began decorating her door for Perrin in 1989 before the Chamber even began the door decorating competition. "The Christmas show was Bob's show, so I needed something as a great entrance to his show, something with a Perrin-esque approach. ... Something whimsical, childlike and fantastical," Knight said.

In all the months between Christmases, Perrin became "older and smaller," Knight said. By the time he reached his late 70s, he had glaucoma. Aman much beloved by the town, people would know to watch out for his car, as it occasionally ran people off the sidewalks.

He would bring his mail to Knight's gallery every afternoon, so she could read it to him.

"And then one day, he didn't come to my gallery," Knight remembered. "So I went to his house and saw his car. I went into the house - which was just packed with stuff, because he hadn't thrown anything away since World War II. I snuck my way upstairs and crawled through a few tunnels and I found him in his closet, where he'd had a stroke. He was white, and when I touched him, he screamed, and then I screamed, and he said, 'I knew you'd find me.'"

Because Perrin had no relatives on his medical charge, the Department of Social Services assumed control of his medical care and sent him to a rehab center in Boston. While Perrin was there, his house - in a state of extreme disrepair - was condemned. He stayed in Boston for five months before Knight arranged for the closest room she could find, in a rehab center in Hyannis. While there, Perrin suffered another massive stroke and wrote an ad as a message to his friends back on island. It was entitled "Found: Somewhere on Nantucket."

"I was never lost, just misplaced," Perrin wrote. "Since February, I've been visiting a hospital in Boston after my stroke and was recently transferred to Hyannis, where the boat comes in. So I see the Nantucket boat come and go, and hopefully in September I'm going to take a running leap from my bedroom window and catch that boat home. In the meantime, I'll be completing my rehabilitation at the Greenery in Hyannis. For the latest information, please contact my good friend, Kathy Knight, at The Gallery at Four India Street."

While Perrin was gone, Knight aggressively sold his paintings to raise the $26,000 needed to renovate his home and make it handicapped accessible.

At Perrin's request, Knight also assumed responsibility for him as his legal guardian and health proxy. When he moved back into his home, Knight hired a live-in nurse for Perrin. Between the nurse and much support from the local community, Knight was able to keep Perrin in the living arrangement for a little over three years, until his health required more stringent supervision. Knight struck a deal with Our Island Home: If she volunteered on a regular basis, the home would give Perrin a private room. She also hired an artist named Paul Garro to create paintings as Perrin dictated, so he could share the images in his head.

"If you save a life, you're responsible for it," Knight said.

Knight volunteered at the home for three more years until, in 1999, Perrin, 84 years old, slipped into a coma. After keeping a bedside vigil, Knight left the room for an instant, and he died.

In his will, Perrin had donated his estate to the Art Institute of Boston and named Knight the executor, a job that paid Knight executor's fees.

"I said, 'I don't want this money,'" remembered Knight, who approached the Art Institute of Boston about starting a scholarship in Perrin's memory. According to Knight, the school's director was so touched, he took the story to the directors of Cisco Systems, who then matched Knight's funds.

"And I was so excited by that, I pledged another $25,000," Knight said. "And then Cisco matched that."

In addition, Knight pledged $3,000 every year for the next five years - a donation that some of Perrin's ardent patrons also matched. To-date, the Kathleen Knight Scholarship Fund in Memory of C. Robert Perrin has sent over 14 art students to college with full tuition.

But that's not enough to honor Perrin's presence at the Gallery during the holidays. And so every year, Knight decorates the door to be worthy of another Perrin Christmas show. She also makes a chocolate cake in honor of

him during Stroll, because it was his favorite. He loved it almost as much as the annual Boar's Head Dinner at the Jared Coffin House.

Though Knight only has a limited number of Whopper books left, she will be giving them away to children who come up to the gallery on Stroll this year, to commemorate the book's 40th anniversary. Any child who claims a Whopper book will also have his or her name entered into a drawing to win an original Robert Perrin watercolor.

The book's story involves a baby whale who gets separated from his family and then reunited. "It goes along with the whole family reunion theme," Knight said, "because Stroll is a time for families to be together." By decorating her door, and unfurling her stroll finery, Knight is bringing Perrin back as well.

"I know people must get bored when they open that brochure and see, 'Oh no, another Perrin show,'" Knight said. "But I made a promise to him that 'til death do us part, I would always have a show for him at Stroll, and I'm keeping my promise."

When: Saturday, Dec. 2, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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(chocolate cake, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.)

Where: The Gallery at Four India Street, Four India Street Cost: Free For more information,

call 228-8509.