Artist Focuses On the Elderly’s Heritage : Pioneers: Jim Branscum hopes to illustrate that the elderly are important. ‘Society judges value by what people can produce today, but just because someone has reached a certain age does not mean their value has diminished,’ he says.

When artist Jim Branscum interviews a potential model, he’s looking for more than just a pretty face.

Branscum has begun a series of pencil drawings of what he calls “the pioneers of this country” to help Americans recognize the contributions of the elderly.

After crisscrossing the nation, visiting 33 states and interviewing 100 people for “Aging in America: Our Heritage of Wisdom,” Branscum has chosen 22 models. Most are over 85 and live in long-term-care nursing homes.

“Older people in long-term care are simply dismissed. If I can get people to recognize the benefits of these people, then I have accomplished what I set out to do,” he said.

Branscum’s subjects range from the oldest living female Marine to the designer of pumps for the Alaskan pipeline. One was an American soldier who fought in World War I. Another remembers seeing the Wright brothers prior to their first flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

Ruth Marie Hills, 85, of Detroit said it was an unexpected pleasure to pose for the artist. A teacher, she worked in engineering at a Ford plant during World War II.

“He came into the nursing home and I was chosen to pose for him. The people . . . said there are better-looking women around here, but he chose me, and now the picture is hanging on the wall in the big dining room.”

Branscum, 49, will draw 14 additional models to complete the project. He wants to capture a cross-section of America’s elderly by representing as many ethnic, racial and religious groups in 36 drawings as he can.

“Society judges value by what people can produce today, but just because someone has reached a certain age does not mean their value has diminished,” Branscum said. “They deserve honor and support in times of need. We don’t have a right to ignore this.”

The origin of the project was a “twist of fate,” Branscum said. In 1991, a visitor to Branscum’s art gallery in Scottsdale got in touch with a friend who ran a nursing home in Detroit. He made the call because the owner of the nursing home was also named Jim Branscum.

After a series of calls, the two met and Jim Branscum, the nursing home administrator, asked Jim Branscum, the artist, to produce three original drawings depicting the humanity and dignity of America’s aging population.

“When I first started, I had no idea of the scope of the project,” Branscum said. Now he has 12 sponsors and plans a two-year exhibition of his “Aging in America” drawings when the series is complete.

Branscum, who also is a sculptor, compares his work on the project to work he did on a Korean War Memorial in Phoenix almost a decade ago.

“This project is really the same thing. These (elderly) people have given their lives. In fact, they’ve given more than any of us in supporting this country,” he said.

Subjects like Valitin Sokoloff, a 92-year-old San Mateo, Calif., resident, exemplify the varied background Branscum is seeking.

Sokoloff was born the son of a Russian infantry officer while the Bolshevik Revolution was raging. As the Bolsheviks took power, he was able to escape and settle in China. After 28 years in that country, he and 6,000 other Russian immigrants were exiled by Mao Tse Tung to the Philippines. In 1951, at age 49, he obtained a visa to America.

“I have lived in three wonderful countries and had three wonderful families that I loved,” Sokoloff told Branscum. “I have never had to shoot anyone and no one has shot at me. I swam through my troubles like a fish and they never touched me.”

Charles Heard, 102, of Mexia, Tex., was the first man in his community to drive an automobile. One of his proudest accomplishments was opening a barbecue restaurant that now houses the local headquarters of the NAACP.

“I felt honored to be a part of a worthwhile project,” Heard said. “The elderly have a lot to teach the younger generation, and I hope my participation helped toward that goal of greater awareness.”