Attic treasures - A Son's Discovery : One story out of 6000 ;
Charles Hillinger was a writer for the Los Angeles Times. In July of 1977 he wrote an article that appeared in the Times featuring a story on Spencer's early years and the legacy of his work with Juan Quezada. Charles passed away in 2008 at the age of 82.
Recently Charles son, Brad Hillinger recently contacted Spencer after discovering Juan's pot in the family attic along with over 100 3-ring binders documenting his father's published articles; a special collection of a writer's life.
"He was always on the go, like the wandering scribes of yore. . . . But it seemed to me right from the beginning that Chuck Hillinger was a direct spiritual descendant of the greatest of them all, Ernie Pyle . . . .
"He shows up and listens and understands, discovers things he didn't know before, then sits down and writes plain stories about plain people which tell the readers things they didn't know before either, or hadn't thought about."
Spencer approached Charles to do a piece on Juan Quezada ; This was the first story ever published on the amazing story of Spencer and Juan's artistic collaboration. Over thirty five years later there areno w over 400 potters and the Mata Oritz Ceramics is renowned internationally.
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