Peter Paul "Uncle Pete" Drgac
1883 - 1976

Uncle Pete was born July 21, 1883 in New Tabor,His parna Czech farming communtiy near Caldwell in Burleson County, Texas. His parents were among the first settlers tin the area. Uncle Pete was the youngest of nine children and attended Shady Grove School in Cook's Point through the seventh grade. After leaving school he worked on the family farm, and did carpentry and housepainting. Drgac was proud of his Czech heritage and spoke his native language fluently.

In 1905 Drgac married and the couple ran a small grocery and bakery in Caldwell for six years before relocating to Rosenberg. In 1922 they opened their own grocery store in Rosenberg. In addition to working fourteen to sixteen hour days operating his business, Drgac also baked bread and made many of his wife's clothes. Although the couple had no children of their own, Drgac loved children and received the nicckname "Uncle Pete" from his neices and nephews.

After retiring in 1955, the couple returned to Caldwell. Uncle Pete then spent his time gardening. He was known for growing spectacular fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables. In 1962, his wife of fifty-six years died.

At the age of eighty-five Drgac found a new passion. After building a flower box, he decided it needed painting. He painted some flowers on it. He was not satisfied with the flowers he had painted on it. He prayed to improve his painting and finally reached a conclusion, "Now some folks might laugh at this, but I felt the assurance that if I would practice, I would be able to draw those flowers and anything else I wanted. So Drgac did practice for the next years prior to his passing at the age of ninety-three.

* text based on Lynne Adele's bio on Spirited Journeys - Self Taught Artists of the Twentieth Century

We are thrilled to have his pieces here and love how he seemed to float his images on the paper.