The original tree logo was the idea of Esther and Wilber Carlson. They were charter members of the Stroke Club. Wilber had a stroke shortly after they moved to Santa Cruz from New York in 1968. One night (approx. 1970) they were trying to think of a symbol to put on the nametags that Esther made for members of the Stroke Club. They thought about the local redwood trees and how tall they stand; thus the tree logo was born.

Jon Blanchette, another Stroke Club member and Stroke Center student drew the version of the tree logo that is still used today. Jon was a student at the Stroke Center in the late 70's and early 80's, and he designed the tree around 1978 in one of the art classes he took at the Center. Jon was a prominent local artist. When he arrived at the Center as a student, he resisted the idea of learning to draw after his stroke with his left hand. One day an art teacher asked him to give a demonstration to the class. He just picked up a pencil and drew. The redwood tree with the couple beneath was his first left-hand drawing!

Jon Blanchette (1908-1987) was born in Somerset, England on March 29, 1908. In the 1930s and 40s he did architectural design, interior decorating, and stage sets for Fox Studios. In 1948 he abandoned commercial work and settled in Aptos, California where he painted fine art and taught privately. A romantic realist, he was primarily an oil painter but was also proficient with pen & ink, watercolor.

Lessons from the Origin of the Center

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