So you’re going to retire (you think)

“Retire? That’s what you do to a car!” says Bill Reidel, of Little Ferry Signs. Bill is a master sign painter and wood carver, well into his eighties and he is decidedly not retired.

When my husband, Ed, passed away, I wanted to close the door of my shop and call it a day. With him gone, so it seemed, so was the fun that we all know is the thread running through our craft. Ed was the light in my life and my right-hand guy. I was determined to sell all my equipment and be done with sign painting—which has been the most creative part of my life for over 35 years.

“Wait a year,” suggested Dana Fox, long-time friend and sign painter who has Fox Signs over in Wartburg, Tennessee. “You can sell your equipment then if you still want to.”