Bill & Doris Warrick - carving out retirement

Bill & Doris Warrick with their largest gnome

Bill and Doris Warrick have spent the last 30 years carving out a life of retirement together. Literally. Bill took up woodcarving, specializing in gnomes and occupational figures. Doris paints the pieces after they’re carved.

Bill designed a series of gnomes to reflect each of the 12 months. So you might see a gnome with a heart in February, a flag-bearing gnome in July, or a Saint Nicholas gnome in December. Besides gnomes, Bill has turned blocks of linden wood into such things as doctors, priests, farmers and firemen. He said he likes to start with the head because that’s the most detailed. Otherwise, Bill explained, you could carve the whole thing and then mess up with the head, and have to start all over.

Before turning to woodcarving, Bill kept busy as a process and tool engineer with John Deere, where he worked 35 years. “I determined how to make farm equipment,” he said, a simplified statement for figuring out form, function and materials. He retired in the early 1980s, and started teaching himself how to carve wood after serendipitously attending a Woodcarvers Club. Doris, who said, “I never knew I had a talent,” began painting the pieces. She has continued to paint, using the medium of acrylics to paint beautiful landscapes.

Bill said when he was young he did some whittling. Then as a Boy Scout, he was encouraged by his scoutmaster to be self-sufficient. That included learning how to carve a spoon out of a stick so he could eat while on a hike. He bought his first wood-carving set on a trip to Switzerland in 1976, though he stuck it in a drawer and forgot about it upon returning home. It would be some years later before he made use of those tools.

Eventually, Bill and Doris were traveling the country, selling their carvings in a variety of art shows. They also accepted commissions to make special pieces, such as a football player, arm raised to pass the ball, a carpenter with a tool box, and a dentist with a toothbrush. They didn’t accept payment up front, and surprisingly were only stiffed financially once. “A lady came to the booth and said she wanted a commissioned piece,” Doris said, “so we sent it to her but she never paid for it. Then a few years later, I saw a woman standing by our booth, just standing there, and I wondered why.” Unbelievably, it was that same woman, who was now offering her long overdue payment.

Bill and Doris celebrated their 68^th wedding anniversary on Sept. 1. That’s a lot of time to spend with someone. “What amazes me is that we never got on each other’s nerves,” Bill said, a rather unassuming declaration of love. Doris simply attributes it to living a good life, and working through problems as they arose.

Bill and Doris met at a United Service Organizations dance when Bill was a Navy cadet stationed in Ottumwa, Iowa, during World War II. “Boys were lined up on one side, the girls on the other,” Bill said. “I picked her out across the room.” That first dance led to Bill hitchhiking 700 miles roundtrip every two to three months to see Doris. She explained that’s just what you did back then, along with writing letters, when you didn’t have a car and telephones were too expensive. They married a year later and settled in Iowa.

Bill and Doris have a son and daughter, seven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild, spread across the country. Their daughter lives in this area, which is what brought them here a few years ago. Their apartment is filled with memorabilia, like Bill’s goggles and headgear from his time as a Navy pilot, shelves of their woodcarvings, and many of Doris’ paintings. All in all, a reflection of a life well lived.