No. 487: Father and Son

 

J.K. "Pete" Elliott and Peter J. Elliott, portrait by Tom Wills, 2022, pencil.

It's tough to say “no” when a deputy marshal comes calling. They are very serious fellows and, in the case of No. 487, “Father and Son,” can be very persistent.

I'd been approached by one of these lawmen a few years back about doing a portrait of Peter J. Elliott and his late father, J.K. “Pete” Elliott, both of whom have a history with the U.S. Marshals Service. But the timing was never right: I was changing jobs, I was moving out of my house after 20 years, and there were other life messes. 

 

By January of this year the job thing was long settled, and the move was over. Really, I had semi-retired from art: I did a Christmas painting then packed up my supplies, and left my big drawing table at the old house. Then the marshal man showed up at work. He had a photo of the Elliotts and handwritten instructions.

I was caught.

So in late January I set up a portable drawing desk in a bedroom and spent three weeks on “Father and Son.”

 The drawing is based upon a color print from a memorial service, and the Elliotts were wearing very dark suits with certain ceremonial trappings to their attire. I spent a lot of time magnifying the image to get the lines of the uniforms correct, as well as all of the folds and creases. That's hard to do when it's basically black-on-black.

I handed the framed work off to my marshal pal in a parking lot and, after three or four weeks of stealth, the piece was presented to Peter J. on March 21. Those involved wish to remain anonymous but word from the inside of the office is that there were three “wows” and then some discussion about the drawing details.

Good news for me!

I have heard of them being called “Pete” and “Re-Pete” by colleagues – respectfully, of course.

Peter J. Elliott was appointed in March 2003 by President George W. Bush as United States Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio after being unanimously confirmed by the Senate, according to the U.S. Marshals' own website.

He was subsequently retained by Presidents Barack Obama in 2009 and Donald Trump in 2017. Elliott is the longest serving United States Marshal in Ohio history. He is responsible for the management, administration and direction of operations throughout the district, which consists of the northern 40 counties of the state. Core missions include security and protection of the United States Courts, prisoner management, criminal investigations, fugitive apprehension, execution of federal court orders and other law enforcement activities. 

Elliott has created many programs to increase collaboration between federal, state and local agencies and to involve the community in making their streets safer. For example, he created the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force which has arrested more than 50,000 fugitives since its inception in 2003, and includes more than 125 partner agencies and more than 350 law enforcement officers. In 2015, he created The Cold Case Unit that has tracked down and arrested some of the longest running fugitives in the history of the U.S. Marshals Service. 

  

His dad was a Navy Veteran, retired Deputy U.S. Marshal and former member of Cleveland Police Pipe and Drum Band. He died March 20, 2020.

Son Elliott began his career as a local law enforcement officer working undercover narcotic operations. In 1987, he became a Deputy U.S. Marshal in the Northern District of Ohio, following in the footsteps of his father. In 1992, he joined the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms as a special agent investigating terrorism, firearms and explosive cases, where he worked until being appointed the U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Ohio.