First, it was his playing spoons that drew Blythe Colvin to purchase a newspaper from Contributor vendor William B.
And it was his stories and friendship that kept her coming back.
Colvin moved to Nashville from Minneapolis for school and met her partner Hayden, who shares her passion for community support.
“We would always make sure to buy the Contributor, keep Gatorade on hand to give out to the vendors in the heat and do what small things we could to support our community,” Colvin said. “We were honestly so intrigued by William’s spoon playing that one day we decided to ask him if he wanted anything from the store, he said ‘Dr. Pepper!’ so we got him one, and circled back around to chat with him about his music and his life. Our friendship has progressed gradually from there by occasionally attending church with him, getting Jersey Mikes with him, and sometimes he will even wheel over to our side of town for a cup of tea. Our cats love him too.”
Colvin was drawn to William and his amazing life stories. One of her favorites is that William likes to tell of a near-death experience he had where he envisioned an angel of God telling him that he wasn’t done on Earth. When he came back to consciousness, he told her he was inspired to live fully by love. He had horns tattooed on his scalp, and ended up covering them in angel wings instead to represent that experience and transformation.
“We always say he’s like a cat — the man definitely has nine lives,” Colvin said. “Probably more.”
William said the friendship came naturally because he likes to talk and Blythe and her partner, Hayden, like to listen.
“She parked her car near the bank and I was sitting there playing,” William said. “I saw her come in and I said ‘Do you want to buy a paper or do you want to talk or what?’ You know me. I’m rarely at a loss for words. And she said, ‘Well, are you hungry?’”
Colvin, who is an artist and graphic designer, decided she wanted to paint William and give him the work as a gift for his birthday this fall.
William had been to her art studio and knew she was an artist — always showing a lot of interest and then one day commenting that he’d love to have some of her work one day. He later mentioned his birthday was coming up and she thought it was the perfect time to act.
“He’s taught us so much, and I only hope he can feel some love reflected back to him through the piece,” Colvin said.
She told him she was creating it, and William said he was anticipating the final product. When he saw it, he was delighted.
“Wow! That’s me. That’s definitely me,” he said.
William says the painting is hanging at Room In The Inn right now and that he plans to will it to his sister when he passes. He says he even takes a little credit for encouraging Blythe and Hayden’s relationship.
“It feels good to have a painting of me done by a person I’ve known for a little over a year now,” William said. “And I feel by getting them together I made two people happy.”