 
Since none of us really know how George spent his retirement years - we will have to be creative. George died in 1972 so there were many years after his last movie. What did he do with that time? The Grandson of George Kesterson was Daryl Zazulak and he remembers visiting him in 1958. At this time George was living in Los Angeles in what Daryl terms as a "Home for Actors". Daryl thinks this might well have been a home for "down & out actors. Its been said many times that the stars of the early movies - the silents, the "B" westerns etc. didn't make much money. Art Mix didn't have a high paying career in the movies - although he is said to have been in about 600 of them. Thats a lot of work for little pay - but maybe it was what he wanted to do.
Business Lives On In Retirement Hotel *** By Paul Weeks Times Staff Writer *** Los Angeles Times Dec 6 1964
Picture: Rides Chair Now - Art Mix, 68, former Hollywood stunt man, sits in lobby of Commodore Hotel
SHOW BUSINESS LIVES ON IN RETIREMENT HOTEL
On the second floor of the Commodore Hotel at 1203 W 7th St., Lucille Gilligan 69, who used to follow the county fair circuit as a handwriting analyst, put her potted philodendron out the window to sun. Down the hall, Amandus James Jansen, who says he's 105 and was a bodyguard of President William McKinley at the time of his assassination in 1901, was napping to save up his strength "for a big party I've got to go to tonight". In the lobby, oldtime cowboy actor Art Mix, 68, (no relation to Tom Mix) sat in his Stetson hat and with cufflinks the size of poker chips, watching the world of the Commodore Hotel go by - slowly. "I tell you, pardner," said Art, "I used to turn over stagecoaches and wagons and come up with nary a scratch - and now, pardner, I gotta be careful steppin' off the curb!"
An Old Postcard - with a very pretty face in a glamorous,
Hollywood outfit.
Stamped "Yours Truly". Its been cut down as if to fit in an Album,
spotted with age.
Is this someone George knew, is it his wifes picture?
Found among his possessions and nothing to identify her. A lonely mans treasure?
The last dated picture found among Arts mementos is this one. He is seated with his neice, Virginia Maxine Kesterson Haas, October 14th 1969. So at least we know that someone in his family did visit him in those last years. This was taken just 3 years before he died and I'm thankful to know that someone cared for him. He's got a pot belly now, but you can still recognize that nose and - Yes - he is still wearing his hat. But wait - its not the same tall, Stetson hat that he used to wear. Virginia was the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Kesterson, a brother of George's. George had 3 sisters and 2 brothers. Eva and Charles outlived him. Ruth, Thomas and Marie all preceded him in death. I think that when all is said and done that George fulfilled his life the way it was meant to be. If he made mistakes along the way - Well... Don't we all?
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