By Melanie King
A five-foot high statue of Snoopy stood inside the American Fork Post Office as residents gathered to honor Charles M. Schulz, and to celebrate the new PEANUTS postage stamp on Saturday, June 2.
Amy Johnson, a resident of Alpine, Utah County, and daughter of the late PEANUTS creator, was presented with an enlarged, framed version of the stamp.
Johnson, who was joined by her husband and nine children, said her father set out as a 6-year-old boy to become a cartoonist.
Schulz strived to improve the profession in a way no one else could, she said. With tears in her eyes, Johnson read a statement made by her father.
'Obviously I did not know that Snoopy was going to go to the moon, and I did not know that the phrase ''happiness is a warm puppy'' would prompt hundreds of other such definitions. And I did not know that the term ''security blanket'' would become part of the American language. But I did have the hope that I would be able to contribute something to a profession I can say now I have loved all my life.'
The commemorative postage stamp was released May 17 in Santa Rosa, California. The stamp was illustrated by Schulz and designed by Carl Herman of Carlsbad, California, said Mike Maxfield, customer relations coordinator for the United States Postal Service in Salt Lake.
The stamp depicts Snoopy in his role as the World War I flying ace.
Johnson has been wondering for 20 years why there wasn''t a Snoopy stamp.
'I''m quite sad that my Dad, who also was waiting for that, was not around to be able to enjoy it,' she said.
Schulz would want to be remembered as a hard worker, Johnson said.
'He went to work every day. He thought of every idea, lettered every strip and drew everything all by himself because he loved it,' she said.
Schulz wanted people to find humor in everything in life, Johnson said.
'I think he helped to do that,' she added.
Schulz died of complications from colon cancer on February 12, 2000 in Santa Rosa, California, just hours before his last original PEANUTS strip appeared in Sunday papers, said Rita Peer of the USPS.
Schulz is being honored on June 7 in Washington, D.C., where he will be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the President. The medal is the highest civilian award given.