Throughout his 23 enlisted years in the Air Force, no matter what base he was stationed at it seemed someone in the wing leadership office - or even the wing commander himself - was always looking for Cy Reck.

Good art can have that effect on people.

As a favor to a friend, Reck sketched out a caricature of someone PCSing to another base. People took note and word spread of his talents.

"They found out what I could do, and they were always after me," Reck said.

The 91-year-old Reck, who worked most of his enlisted career in ground safety and retired from McChord as a master sergeant in 1963, sketched cartoons, portraits and caricatures for various wing commanders, base papers and newsletters.

"I drew and painted all my days in the service," said Reck, whose Air Force career included stints in Newfoundland and Puerto Rico and finished up at McChord.

After retiring from active duty, he worked in civil service until retiring in 1981. While the work stopped, Reck continued creating works of art in ink, pastel, acrylic, and watercolor. The walls of the study in his Lakewood home are lined with portraits of dogs, horses and people. Throughout his retirement he's also made guest appearances in both his daughter and granddaughter's elementary school classrooms teaching art to young children.

"I've never met a kid who didn't like art," he said.

And while technology has come a long way in the field of art, Reck has managed to keep up. He now creates art on his computer with a stroke of the mouse.

"That's one of the hardest things - to use a mouse," said Reck, who has no formal art training except for a correspondence course he took before enlisting in the Army Air Corps in 1940.

Reck's art is also all over the McChord Air Museum on McChord Field. He painted a mural of hangar operations that covers the back wall of the museum as well as another near the entryway that honors Sheila Widnall, a Tacoma native who served as the secretary of the Air Force between 1993 and 1997, making her the first female secretary of the Air Force and first woman to lead an entire branch of the U.S. military in the Department of Defense.

"He's done some very good work," said Ray Jordan, the museum's curator who's known Reck for about seven years.

Another of Reck's works in the museum details the nation's involvement in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and current operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Reck still manages to stay involved with the museum in a variety of ways, serving as the museum foundation's treasurer. He also helps keep other museum volunteers active.

"He comes in and welcomes volunteers to go out to Madigan (Army Medical Center) and work out with him," Jordan said. "He takes time to show them around the gym and how to use all the different machines."

And of course, Reck still does illustrations for the museum's monthly newsletter, The Rip Cord.

"I enjoy it so much," he said.