Jonathan Griffin

The painter Richard Mayhew, who recently celebrated his 99th birthday, has lived through as broad a swath of this nation’s history as anyone you might hope to meet.

Sitting at a patio table outside his cedar-shingled suburban home in Soquel, near Santa Cruz, Mayhew leaned back in his chair and reflected on his long life.

“I drove across the United States six times,” he said. “Three over, and three back, from New York to San Francisco. I was always looking.”