Growing Up With Archie, Jughead, Betty & Veronica

Bob Montana, the artist behind the original Archie Daily & Sunday Strip, was a celebrity in our house.

My father, Robert (left) with his sister Peg, and her husband, Bob Montana, in 1946. My father considered Bob Montana to be the big brother he never had. © Aine Dyer Books.

• Bob Montana, who created the likenesses for the Archie characters, was my uncle.

• He met my aunt, nineteen-year-old Peg Wherett, in the Fort Monmouth Art Department and married her in 1946.

• He was silly and funny, adventurous and was, I would say, my dad’s best friend.

My uncle Bob Montana passed away from a heart attack while skiing with my cousins on his land in Meredith, NH when I was just seven years old in 1975. He was the guy everyone loved and everyone wanted to be around. The tragedy of his passing so young left an enormous empty space in my family.

An Archie daily strip that I have from 1957. © Aine Dyer Books

Bob Montana was an American cartoonist and illustrator best known for creating the likenesses of the Archie characters. Born in Stockton, California, in 1920, Montana was fascinated by cartoons from a young age and began drawing his own strips as a child. He attended the Academy of Fine Arts in San Francisco and later worked as a staff artist for MLJ Comics.

In 1941, Montana was asked to create a new comic strip featuring a group of teenagers. He came up with the concept of "Archie" and introduced the world to the characters of Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, and Reggie Mantle. The strip debuted in Pep Comics #22 in December 1941, and soon became one of the most popular comic strips of all time.

My birth announcement “Archie” style. ©Aine Dyer Books

My uncle’s art style was simple and clean, with a focus on realistic depictions of teenage life. He was known for his ability to capture the emotions and humor of his characters, and his work on "Archie" has inspired generations of cartoonists and artists. In addition to his work on the comic strip, Uncle Bob also illustrated the covers of Archie Comics from the 1940s to the 1960s.

In 1942 he listed in the Signal Corps and spent four years in the service. While working at Fort Monmouth, NJ, he worked on film strips, cartoons, and training aids, which is when he met my father’s sister, Peg Wherett, who was working as a secretary in the art department. They were married in April 1946 and moved to Meredith, NH, to a farm overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee.

At a restaurant in Italy, my father, Robert (sitting, left), my Uncle Bob Montana (far right) and my Aunt Peg next to him in 1957. ©Aine Dyer Books

And that’s sort of where I come in. My parents met on a blind date in 1950 and dated for seven years until my father was discharged from the Navy. They married in 1957 and lived in Asbury Park at the Wherewood rooming house on Third Ave and Kingsley. Below is a picture of my grandparent’s roominghouse in Asbury Park one block in from the ocean.

The Wherewood rooming house, in Asbury Park, where my dad and aunt lived when Peg started dating Bob Montana. The house, amazingly enough, is still there.

My memory of my uncle Bob is vague, but, by discovering the many objects that my mother had kept, like these photographs and sketches, I learned he was a fun-loving, kind-hearted, and generous person. Even after his passing, I spent several summers with my Aunt at their farm in Meredith and often found myself in his studio beside the barn. I would sit on his chair in front of his drawing desk that faced the side garden, trying to imagine him drawing his strip right in front of me. I frequently think about how wonderful it would have been to have his company during my adulthood.

One of Bob’s first strips, it mentions my grandfather, Mr. Wherett.

My uncle had these little postcards made and would send them to my sister and me. ©Aine Dyer Books

Every year, my uncle would draw the Christmas card from the Montana family. They often depicted some crazy situation that Archie or Jughead has gotten themselves into.

©Aine Dyer Books

©Aine Dyer Books

Peg and Bob spent a lot of time living abroad in places like England and Mexico.

Peg and Bob lived in England for a while and as you can see, I say, that Bob really liked Sherlock Holmes.

I know that my dad and Bob were close. Below is a letter written a little while before Bob’s death in 1975 and gives a glimpse of Bob’s sense of humor.

A thank-you letter Bob wrote to my father after my dad slipped on the ice and broke his leg. © Aine Dyer Books

If you would like to learn more about my Uncle Bob, there is a great book out there about him.

The New England Life of Cartoonist Bob Montana: Beyond the Archie Comic Strip

And there are books available if you want to read his earlier strips.

So that’s the only celebrity I’ve got in my family. All the rest of us are just non-celebrity people. Not to say we aren’t celebrities in our own families, but we don’t have national recognition - just local. 😁 Did you grow up with a celebrity in your family or as a friend? If so, I’d love to hear more about it!