Larry Eastman talks about one of the hundreds of hand-painted cards he donated to Operation Santa. World Photos by Lou Sennick

COOS BAY — Jacki Kenworthy was visiting Pony Village Mall earlier this year when she stumbled upon the Operation Santa group.

When she heard about how they send stockings to servicemen and women overseas, the Ocean Crest Assisted Living facility’s life enrichment specialist immediately thought of one of her residents — Larry Eastman. A 98-year-old U.S. Coast Guard veteran, Eastman paints cards for residents on their birthdays and draws paintings for people to cheer them up.

“He’s a very giving person,” she said. “I knew Larry would love to do something like that.”

So Eastman started drawing cards to send overseas.

It’s an activity he picked up recently — at least recently to an almost-centenarian.

He doesn’t like to see good things go to waste. So when his wife gave up painting about five years ago, he decided it was up to him to make sure the acrylics didn’t wind up in the trash. It didn’t matter that he didn’t have any training or that he was several years past his 90th birthday.

“I just started dabbing, no lessons or nothing else,” he said.

His desire to put his wife’s art materials to good use has turned the man into a painting machine. Eastman churns out hundreds of paintings a year. Dozens adorn his room at Ocean Crest.

With his walls covered with artwork, there isn’t space for any of his new pieces. So staff at the retirement center load pickups with boxes filled with his paintings and take them to South Coast Hospice, Salvation Army, Goodwill or anyone else who shows an interest in the work.

“It’s donated all over the place,” said Diane Mason, acting administrator at Ocean Crest.

A retired U.S. Coast Guard serviceman, Eastman’s artwork often captures landscapes and particular waterfronts.

He also likes mountain settings, which were the main feature in hundreds of cards he donated to Operation Santa on Friday.

His cards feature more than an attractive depiction of mountains, too. A fan of The Family Circus comic strip, Eastman made sure the cards’ recipients could share a laugh by pasting a comic strip or two on the back of each one.

Eastman works mostly with acrylics because of how quickly he paints. He can cover a table-sized piece of paper in an hour, and the cards he draws take about five or six minutes each.

“If I get tired of one thing, I jump to another,” he said. “This is my recreation.”

Although he only picked up a paintbrush several years ago, Eastman has always had a creative spirit. An avid woodcarver in his day, Eastman has several lamp bases made from blocks of wood. He also has a macramé on display and a set of drawers built from the frame of an old television set.

“I just took out the guts of it,” he said. “Living through the Great Depression, you learned you had to make something out of nothing.”

Eastman is proud of his time served in the Coast Guard and remembers it well. He can recall the exact dates when he earned promotions and the names of the various bodies of water he patrolled in Alaska, Washington and Oregon.

His sharp mind also provides him with the images that appear in his paintings. He does everything from memory, he said.

“Half the time I’m not sure what I’m doing until I’m doing it,” he said.

In his more than 20 years in the Coast Guard, he also gained an appreciation for the men and women who respond to the call of duty. This Christmas, he’s going to be able to remind them, through his contribution to Operation Santa, that their efforts are appreciated.