How Pickles Cartoonist's Wife Sparked His Journey of Faith (with Brian Crane)

The other kids ran for the playground. One boy stayed behind on the school steps, too shy to join them, watching from a distance. His teacher took pity on him and invited him inside to draw on the blackboard. The pictures made the other children laugh, and for the first time, the quiet boy had a way to make friends. That boy was Brian Crane, and more than six decades later, his drawings still land on kitchen tables in nearly a thousand newspapers around the world.

Brian is the creator of Pickles, the comic strip about Earl and Opal, a couple married over 50 years who lose their glasses, trade gentle jabs, and love each other through it all. He won the Reuben Award, cartooning's highest honor, the same prize once given to Charles Schulz. On a recent episode of Why We Believe with host Nathan Gwilliam, Brian shared the story behind the strip, the wife who believed in him when he could not believe in himself, and the faith in Jesus Christ he has been tucking quietly into the background of the funny pages for more than 35 years.

The Comic Strip That Almost Never Existed

Brian grew up loving the funny pages. His dad introduced him to Li'l Abner and Popeye, and he dreamed of drawing a strip of his own someday. But as he got older, the dream started to feel foolish. He told himself he could never be a Charles Schulz or a Bill Watterson. He decided he did not have the talent, so he did not try for decades.

He went into advertising instead, designing ads and logos for 17 years. The work was creative, but in the back of his mind one question would not leave him alone. What if he had actually tried? Brian says he could not do it because he did not think he could. The dream sat buried, like the talent in the Savior's parable, wrapped up and hidden where it could not grow.

His wife saw what he could not. They were raising seven children on an advertising salary, and she kept asking the same question. Why not pursue the comic strip you dreamed about? Brian finally agreed to draw one, send it in, get rejected, and settle the matter. That was his whole plan. Instead, the Washington Post Syndicate accepted Pickles for syndication, and a career that began at age 40 grew into a strip read in nearly a thousand newspapers around the world.

Temples Hidden in Plain Sight

Years into the strip's success, Brian started wondering if his readers knew he was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So he began slipping small signs of his faith into the background of his panels. A temple on the wall. A Church magazine on the coffee table. He even worked quotes by President Hinckley and other Church leaders into the strip itself, including a quote by the current Church president that ran in newspapers the very day of this interview.

Readers noticed. Letters and emails arrived with questions. Invitations came to speak at firesides for wards and church groups. Brian calls it a little bit of missionary work, not preachy, just showing the good that comes from living the gospel. He wants readers of other faiths to laugh along too, so the witness stays quiet. For the reader who knows where to look, it is unmistakable.

That approach says something about how testimony can travel. Brian cannot preach sermons to a thousand newspapers. He can draw a temple on a living room wall, and let someone at a breakfast table wonder about it.

A Blessing in the Emergency Room

The hardest night of Brian's life came when his youngest daughter, just four years old, was struck by a car. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and a broken leg. At the emergency room, Brian was too shaken to give her a priesthood blessing himself. His home teacher laid his hands on her head and blessed her that she would recover fully.

She did. Today, she lives in Utah with three children of her own, three of Brian's grandchildren. Brian testifies that her life was spared because of that blessing, and the memory still anchors his faith decades later.

It was not the first time the Lord had carried him. As a young missionary in Uruguay, his mission president learned he could draw and put him to work on the mission magazine. Years later, when Brian and his wife were called to serve missions helping senior couples, he wondered how he could keep the strip running under contract while serving. He says the Lord multiplied his time the way He multiplied the loaves and fishes, and both callings got done.

Growing Older With Faith and a Sense of Humor

Brian is now the same age as Earl and Opal, and macular degeneration has begun to affect his eyesight and his lettering. He is not afraid. He plans to keep drawing as long as his eyes and the Lord allow, and his readers have not complained. His daughter Emily colors the strip now, which makes Pickles a family project in the truest sense.

Ask Brian what Earl and Opal understand that younger people sometimes miss, and his answer sounds like a sermon disguised as a punchline. Accept people. Forgive quickly, because life is too short to hold a grudge. Go forward with faith and a sense of humor, and find the joy in small things, even in your own mistakes and frailties.

Ask him who Jesus Christ is, and the humor gives way to witness. The Savior, he says, is his big brother, his friend, his confidant, his inspiration, and his guide. Brian believes his life and his happiness would be unimaginable without Him. When Nathan asked him at the end of the episode why he believes, Brian answered with the settled logic of a man who has tested it for a lifetime. The gospel gives hope for the future, guidance for today, and a path to happiness. He has watched it prove true in his own family, and he owes it all to the Savior.

Key Takeaways

Brian Crane's story carries lessons for anyone sitting on a buried gift or a quiet testimony. Talents offered back to God get multiplied, like the loaves and fishes, beyond what we bring Him. God often speaks His confidence in us through the loved ones who refuse to give up on us. A quiet gospel witness, a temple drawn in the background, can open doors that preaching cannot. Priesthood blessings invite the Savior's healing power into a family's most frightening hours. And believing in Jesus Christ fills a life with purpose, daily guidance, and hope for the future.

If a shy boy on the school steps can grow into a missionary on the funny pages, the talent you have been burying may be waiting for the same invitation.

Listen to Brian's full conversation on Why We Believe, and then visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for reading this week's blog post inspired by the Why We Believe show. If you are interested in more stories like this, you can check out our other blog posts and episodes at WhyWeBelieve.com, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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