GREENSBORO, N.C. — You’ve probably seen it. The Norman Rockwell painting is called ‘Home For Thanksgiving’. It's from 1945. It shows a World War II soldier and his proud and thankful mom together peeling potatoes on the front porch.
The iconic piece of artwork was bought by a priest and in 1959, the priest’s family donated it to an American Legion post in Winchendon, MA. It hung on the wall for decades as part of the decor that celebrates and honors military service. Funny thing, no one at the post knew it was an original.
"One day a gentleman came in and said I'll offer you $500 for this painting and that's the moment we said we better look into this. We brought it down to the Rockwell Museum and they verified it was an original,” said Ken La Brack, Housing Board Chairman for Post 193.
The original went up for auction and was sold for $3.6 million. Can you imagine? It was right in that building all of those years.
“Anybody could have reached up and grabbed it and walked out the front door and we would've never even probably missed it to tell you the truth," said La Brack.
"I hope that many people will get the opportunity to enjoy it knowing it's a Rockwell when we never did,” said Coral May Grout, past President Legion Post 193.
One more fun fact for you, the people in the painting are real. A mom and son from Vermont. Rockwell paid them $15 each for the hour they posed for him, that's well over $200 today.
The folks at the American Legion post say they're going to use the money to do all the projects they've been putting off, like a new heating system, new parking lot, etc.