WWII painting's journey draws two families together
May 28—Nobody alive seems to know whether George Weitz and Florence Govern were dating or just friends after they met in the 1930s at the Schoharie State School of Agriculture. But a painting of Weitz — discovered in Govern's basement — brought descendants of both families together for the first time Thursday for a ceremony and conversation.
A lot has changed at the former agricultural school, now SUNY Cobleskill, since Weitz became a student in 1935. Back then, the campus consisted of four buildings on a quad. On one side was the headquarters for the agricultural program. The home economics building was opposite, with the student cafeteria in the basement. The teacher training classes were on the north side of the quad, according to a history on the college website.
It may have been among these buildings where Weitz and Govern met. He was 21, and taking classes in agriculture. She was 18, studying to be a teacher and working in the college library.
Weitz graduated and became a milk inspector in Schoharie County, said his son Gary Weitz during an interview on May 26, standing in front of the painting and beside Rob Nixon, the man who found it. When World War II started, Weitz attended a 90-day officer training then shipped out to Europe. He landed on Utah Beach five days after D-Day, and spent the war fighting in France and Belgium.
At some point Weitz had his portrait painted, and sent it back to Govern. "It was customary for soldiers, when they arrived in Europe, to have paintings done like this and shipped home to friends and family," said Kate Weaver from the SUNY Cobleskill Office of Advancement during the May 26 event. Weaver was the one who managed to track down Gary Weitz after Nixon and his wife Kay brought the painting to campus in 2020, asking for help.
In December 1945, three months after the war ended, Weitz returned home to upstate New York.
He came to see Govern — there is a photo of the two of them, dressed up and standing in the snow. It is the last known evidence of interaction between them. Seven months later, Weitz married another woman. Nevertheless, Govern kept that painting tucked away for 70 years.
Nixon talked about Govern's life. He's known her for much of his life, because he is married to Govern's niece. (His wife wanted to meet the Weitzes but was not able to travel up from Florida for the event.)
Govern was from Stamford. After studying at Cobleskill she worked as a physical education teacher. She never married, and lived independently almost her whole life, until she was 96.
"Aunt Flo, she had her heart broken a couple of times," Nixon said. "She coached all the girls — basketball, baseball, she did everything. In a man's world. She did well, I mean, but she had a lonely life. She was by herself. She kind of gave up, I think and went on her own."
Govern moved to the Robinson Terrace nursing home in Stamford and asked the Nixons to clean out her house. They sold or gave a lot away, including her dog, but kept the painting.
"But that was not the only painting I found in the cellar," Nixon said on Thursday. He and his wife found two paintings of World War II soldiers wrapped together. They took them to Govern, who immediately told them one was George Weitz, but the other one she was unsure about.
Nixon turned to Weaver and told her she has another job to do: the second painting is still in their cabin on Lake Canadarago. "And it's staring at me, like, 'help me'. And I don't know where to take it from here."
After Govern died in 2017, Kay and Rob Nixon spent several years trying to find out what happened to Weitz. They only ran into dead ends until they asked SUNY Cobleskill for assistance. Weaver did archival research, learned that Weitz came from Pine Island in Orange County, and eventually found Gary Weitz.
Weitz got emotional Thursday as he described seeing the painting for the first time.
"I knew my dad years later, when he'd been beaten up by life. I don't remember him like this as a young man" he said. Donna Weitz, standing next to him, wiped a tear from her cheek. "I have so many of my dad's characteristics, both good and bad," he said.
Weitz thanked the Nixons and SUNY Cobleskill for the work they took to find him. "The effort that was made along the way is to me a major part of the story of this painting, and why it has so much meaning and will always remain in my home for the rest of our lives," he said.
After the event ended, Nixon and the Weitzes sat at a table, comparing notes. Nixon texted a friend at home and asked him to take a photo of the second painting of the mystery soldier. He passed his phone around to show others. The soldier looked older and thinner than the painting of Weitz.
But Gary Weitz stopped mid-sentence when he looked at the picture. "Just a minute now," he said quietly. "That's my dad. That's definitely my father." If the first painting showed him as he looked when he arrived in France, the second painting may be how he appeared after three years of war, Weitz said.
Mike Forster Rothbart, staff writer, can be reached at mforsterrothbart@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7213.
