AARP headlines alert us that reimagining our lives after retirement is definitely possible. We are told by the media to “kick start a new career” or “sustain yourself beyond retirement age.” Dr. Jose Sison, Neighborhood 1, definitely lives by this mantra: “Better late than never” or “Better still, it’s never too late.” Years ago, Jose, or Joe, told one of his three daughters that he would like to become a professional cartoonist. Within a year of his physician retirement, a few years ago, he actually began to live his dream by becoming the Sun Day’s J. Sison’s MENAGERIE caricature artist. Here is his story.
Joe Sison made his career putting people ‘under.’ In retirement, he puts people over the top with laughter. (Photo Illustration by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
Sison was born on the island of Luzon, just north of Manila, Philippines on March 19, 1946 (St. Joseph’s Day, thus his first name). In 1971, he became a doctor specializing in anesthesiology and pain medicine. At the age of 26, Sison came to the United States where he continued receiving 4 years of additional medical education at three Midwest hospitals. Working as a staff anesthesiologist at Provena Mercy Hospital and Dreyer Surgery Center, Aurora for the next 38 years, he became the Anesthesiologist Medical Director at Dreyer for a few years.
In 2002, Sison and his wife, Tess, (now married more than 41 years), moved into one of Del Webb’s first neighborhoods. Then came Sison’s medical retirement on June 6, 2014 at the age of 68.
“As far as I could remember since I was young, I’d like to doodle, draw, sketch, and paint with watercolor (basically self-taught when I was younger),” Sison said.
Indeed, Sison has quite an artistic resume! His first foray into cartooning took place when he sent a medical-themed cartoon to a Philippine medical newspaper, “The Pulse,” published in 1971.
“It was drawn on a prescription paper with pen and ink,” Sison said. “One other medium that I’ve been involved in since the 70s and most proud of is sculpture, both plastic and metal.
Sison has made it possible to combine his two careers.
“I have joined the American Society of Anesthesiologists Art Show…I won two Best of the Show Awards and several 1st and 2nd places through the years. It is a unique medium because I use discarded or surgical equipment and other found objects, and jurors would find my artwork a novelty and fascinating.”
After retiring 2 years ago, Joe was ready to tackle other sorts of art media as well. First, the retiree joined the Sun City Pencil and Palette Club, where he renewed his love for painting. For the first time, he joined the annual Woodstock Art Show. Sison adds that in enrolling in various painting workshops in Sun City, he has learned “tricks of the trade.”
How did Joe actually make the transition to become the professional cartoon artist for our local newspaper?
“If memory serves me right, thinking that The Sun Day needed a little comic relief, albeit a quirky one, and me needing an outlet for my artsy side, I sent in my first cartoon to Chris [La Pelusa], in June of 2013, and he had it published under QUICKTOON which evolved to the FLIPSIDE and eventually to J. Sison’s MENAGERIE.”
The Sun Day artist has not missed a deadline or publication since he was made a regular contributor.
Sison said, “I get most of my ideas for a cartoon from reading, relying on puns and play on words and sight gags that I’d imagine and encounter.”
He states that he can come up with a finished product in less than an hour by first jotting the thoughts down quickly on paper. The caption for the cartoon usually comes first with the caricature artwork developed secondly to explain the caption. Finally, the finished product is sent as an email with an attachment to the paper’s editor-in-chief.
Sison’s plethora of passions is clear.
“I’m living my dream to be a ‘published cartoonist!'” he said. “So fellow seniors, whatever you’re passionate about, “Go for it with a vengeance and keep on truckin’! If not now…when?”
