Brent Eaton’s story is a testament to hard work and talent, but also contains the kind of statistical anomaly one hears about when it comes to lightning strikes. In Eaton’s case, it was trucks, not lightning. 

Most people have never been hit by a truck while walking, yet Eaton was hit twice in incidents three years apart. Eaton keeps getting back up, though, and his fortitude is bolstered by lifelong training in equestrianism, archery, fencing and martial arts. These days, despite mostly getting around in a motorized chair, Eaton exercises daily and takes care of tasks like changing the oil on his 1973 VW Beetle. Rather than complain about loss of mobility, the 68-year-old charges ahead with projects and thoroughly enjoys his most recent role: that of grandfather to 7-month-old Hollis. 

“When I was a kid, my family lived on a horse ranch in Roswell, New Mexico,” said Eaton, whose father, Robert Eaton, was an art teacher. “When I was 8, we moved to be closer to my father’s family in Wilbraham.”

The Eatons rented a Greenfield home with ample land; the garage sheltered Brent’s horse. “Snowcone was a little albino stallion, 14 hands tall,” said Eaton. “He calmed down once he was gelded. When I rode Snowcone to the Four Corners school one day, the kids loved it.”

Before long, the family bought a place in West Deerfield. Brent Eaton, his brother, and his sister had childhoods that included honing archery skills from horseback. “I learned to shoot dead-reckoning style,” said Eaton. “While riding, I could shoot off of my left shoulder while keeping an extra arrow in my little finger.” 

Robert Eaton taught his children fencing skills, as well. “My father was also a marksman and knife-thrower. Those skills have been in our family for generations,” said Eaton. “During the Civil War, we had four generals in the Union Army. We’ve been here since 1620: our ancestor, Francis Eaton, was a ship’s carpenter on the Mayflower.”

Francis Eaton signed the Mayflower Compact in November of 1620. “Swordsmanship and carpentry have been in my family for centuries,” said Eaton, “along with horse wrangling.” Eaton passed many of those skills down to his five sons, the eldest of whom is 43; the youngest is 35. 

In 1969, when Eaton was 11, his father acquired special artistic equipment that changed the course of young Brent’s life. Robert Eaton taught art at many area schools from 1967 through 1994, including Greenfield High School and Mohawk Trail Regional School. When the elder Eaton tried to master airbrushing equipment, however, he couldn’t get the hang of it.

“My father couldn’t keep the airbrush from clogging,” said Eaton. “He suggested I give it a try, and it turned out I was really good at it.” 

Brent Eaton’s education included Old Deerfield Grammar School, Frontier Regional for high school, and post-grad welding training at Franklin County Tech, where he also studied art.

“Because of my art training, I was able to weld a tighter bead, according to the teacher,” said Eaton, who went on to have a successful career as an airbrush artist.

Yet, his life always included swordsmanship, thanks to early exposure to a Japanese sword master whom Eaton met while living in New Mexico. 

“Ito Musashi was the farrier for our household and ranch,” said Eaton. “He also created sculptures and metal items. I called him Master Musash. He let me operate the bellows on the [blacksmithing] fire when I was only 5 or 6 years old. Master Musash noted that my style of fencing was linear, and suggested that his style — influenced by Kendo and Iaido — was superior.” Iaido (pronounced ee-EYE-do) is more than a martial arts style, said Eaton. “It’s a process that helps you think and move in all situations,” he said.

His early exposure to an Iaido master led to Eaton starting his own martial arts school, Eaton-Do-Ryu, in 1976 when he was just 18. “It came about because a young woman at my high school wanted to learn self-defense because she was being bullied,” said Eaton. “I taught her Aiki-jūjutsu, which is a harsh technique. She learned well, and those guys never bothered her again.” 

Over the years, Eaton cultivated two careers: while following in his father’s artistic footsteps–including sign painting and commercial art — he continued to hone his martial arts and other skills and to teach others. Eaton moved from West Deerfield to Turners Falls and became a dad himself; his two youngest sons eventually helped run Eaton-Do-Ryu, which began around the year 2000.

“The [martial arts] school was mobile,” said Eaton. “I taught in Connecticut, in Brimfield, Massachusetts, and in Turners Falls.”

Eaton’s remarkable work included mentoring GCC student actors in using swords safely during a theatrical production, demonstrating swordsmanship at Renaissance fairs, and wowing crowds at Elizabethan festivals: after a cabbage was placed on a post, Eaton would slice it cleanly in half while riding swiftly by on horseback. He also taught paddle-board techniques to television actors.

Despite spinal collapse resulting from prednisone treatments for arthritis since childhood — a problem exacerbated by two accidents — Eaton keeps going.

“I have neuropathy in my feet, but I can still walk some. I can kick during my exercises,” he said. “I use an exercise bike and do sword work; my body is used to it.”

Eaton looks forward to passing skills down to the next generation. “I already got Hollis a little compound bow, even though he’s only seven months old,” said Eaton. “I made him some rubber-tipped bird arrows out of cedar.” The lucky baby has already sat in the driver’s seat of the yellow VW bug. With a grandpa like Brent Eaton, surely little Hollis has grand adventures ahead!

Eveline MacDougall can be reached at evelinemacdougall@gmail.com.