Pennsylvania: Well-known artist and pilot Landis Whitsel dies of cancer

Perhaps best known for his watercolors of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, landmarks and Civil War scenes, Whitsel also was a pilot and creator of World War I-replica machine guns

Landis Whitsel died Saturday after a bout with cancer at the age of 62. He was a well-known artist who also loved flying. He is shown here piloting a plane. 

WAYNESBORO, Pa.— A Waynesboro artist whose prints hang in many of the community’s homes and businesses died this weekend after a battle with cancer.

Landis B. Whitsel was 62.

Perhaps best known for his watercolors of local landmarks and Civil War scenes, Whitsel also was a pilot and creator of World War I-replica machine guns. His wife said he had an engineer’s mind and artisan’s hands, both of which were used in efforts to preserve history.

“They’re pulling things from our past and bringing them to our future,” Candice Whitsel said of her husband’s work.

“His contribution to art collections of regional landmarks will be an excellent legacy,” said Becky Dietrich, a fellow artist and friend.

Whitsel studied art at several schools, but his wife said he was mostly self-taught. He served as a mentor to younger artists and regularly spoke to classes at Waynesboro Area Senior High School.

In the 1990s, Waynesboro businessman Jeff Mace partnered with Whitsel to release a 12-piece, nostalgic collection of paintings of community landmarks, buildings and traditions. Mace’s favorite piece depicts a Christmas tree in a snow-covered Center Square.

“Landis was a tremendous person, a great artist and just a really nice guy,” Mace said Sunday.

Candice Whitsel said her husband’s paintings threw a spotlight on oft-forgotten things and events, such as the Cold Spring Park train and the Battle of Monterey Pass.

Whitsel expressed surprise when someone he didn’t know mentioned him in connection with his art, his wife said.

“I don’t think he ever realized the impact it had on people,” Candice Whitsel said.

“A lot of people knew him through his artwork,” Mace said.

For the past few years, Whitsel focused mostly on his Repligun business. He researched machine guns, then re-created them in lighter-weight versions that didn’t shoot.

The movie “The Red Baron” featured six or seven of Whitsel’s guns, his wife said.

“He was very creative, and he was a great artisan,” Mace said.

Dietrich, of Mont Alto, Pa., is especially fond of Whitsel’s paintings of a Western Maryland Railroad train pulling into Pen Mar Park and another train behind Welty’s Mill. She described the artwork as “exceptional,” and the artist as generous and kind.

“He was a very genuine individual,” Dietrich said. “He always listened carefully to what people had to say.