Mathews native Ida Trusch, 80, is a lifelong artist whose carved sculptures made of wood and other natural materials are held in such distinguished galleries as the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Smithsonian Institution. A 1963 graduate of Mathews High School, Trusch earned art scholarships from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Mathews Woman’s Club and went on to earn degrees in sculpture and art history at Virginia Commonwealth University. After graduation, she taught classes at VCU and Colby-Sawyer Women’s College in New Hampshire; designed décor for Kings Dominion; served as the director of the Exhibit Design and Fabrication Department at the Science Museum of Virginia; and established two independent art studios, one for fine arts and one for graphic design. After living much of her adult life in Aylett, Trusch now resides in a senior living facility in Gloucester, where she is visited frequently by her beloved nephew, Christian Maggard. The two of them recently spoke...