Audie Love

Date of Birth

July 19, 1941

Date of Death

May 2, 2015

Audie Love, 73, died peacefully in his sleep on May 2, 2015, after a brief illness.

Audie will be lovingly remembered by many former art students, good friends and family, including, his wife of 50 years, Linda, his brother, Jim (Linda), his sisters-in-law, Margaret (David), Arona Ann, and nephew and nieces, Mark (Kim), Suzy and Dee (Steve).

Audie was born in Cleveland, Texas, the son of Audie Love, Sr. and Louise Love. As a first grader, he and his family lived in Rising Star, Texas where his father had a leather shop, and Audie astounded the locals with his drawings of Bugs Bunny. When a devastating fire destroyed half of the town, including the leather shop, Audie’s family moved to east Texas where his dad found a job with a paper mill. Audie attended Stephen F. Austin University, the University of Texas, North Texas State University and received his master’s degree in printmaking from New Mexico Highlands University, studying under Elmer Schooley.

Audie and Linda were married in Texas in 1964, and in 1969 moved to Santa Barbara. In 1971, Audie was hired to teach painting and drawing at Dos Pueblos High School, and his students were a joy to him. He was honored to be one of the seven writers at Princeton of the National Art Teacher’s Exam and of conducting seminars on behalf of Educational Testing Service on Advanced Placement Studio Art. He retired from teaching in 1999. Knowing what a struggle it was to get funding for art supplies as a teacher, Audie then devoted his time and energy to a nonprofit called the Student Art Fund, a committee of the Santa Barbara Art Association. This group raises funds to give art supply money to all public junior high and senior high art classes in Santa Barbara, Goleta and Carpinteria. Most recently, the SAF organized the Grandparent Portrait Show. He dearly loved getting invitations to the art openings of his former students at Dos Pueblos and thought of himself as an art coach rather than a teacher.

Audie worked long and hard on his goals for the young artists in our community. One of his favorite quotes was from Danny Thomas: “There are givers and takers. The takers eat better, but the givers sleep better.” Another of his favorites was from the Buddha: “A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things that renew humanity.”

As he wished, no formal services will be held. He wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea. Linda knows how much he was loved and is grateful to all his friends for their support and concern during his illness. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Santa Barbara Foundation, 1111 Chapala St. Suite 200, Santa Barbara, CA 93101. On the reference line, put Student Art Fund Endowment.

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