Sun City West, AZ – Christopher Robin Prichard, who was known as “WAXX” in his later years, died December 19, 2020 in a long-term care facility in Sun City West, Arizona. He was 70 and suffered from dementia and lung disease.
Chris was born on July 21, 1950 in Thief River Falls. Around the time of his birth his older brother Peter was reading A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories and suggested to their mother Flo that the new baby be named Christopher Robin, after the boy in the story.
Chris’s childhood was peripatetic. Over the next few years, the family would move from Thief River Falls to Austin, Texas, Hudson, Wisconsin and then to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where Flo died of cancer when Chris was five years old. They then returned to Thief River Falls where their father Jarvis was in the construction business.
Chris completed elementary and high school in Thief River Falls and was a 1968 graduate of Lincoln High School. After graduation he attended art school in Minneapolis, intending to pursue his dream to be an artist. He moved to San Francisco in the 1970s and later to Los Angeles, where he lived in the Silver Lake neighborhood.
He found work as a salesperson in a record store and became an expert on pop and rock music — he occasionally advised movie directors on what songs would work in their films, before that kind of service became a Hollywood specialty. To celebrate his expertise in vinyl records, he changed his name to Acrylic Waxx, and later referred to himself simply as WAXX. Over the years he continued to paint landscapes and abstracts, many of which were designed to be viewed with black lights.
In the 1980s he moved to Phoenix where he lived for many years with his aunt, Maureen Prichard. Waxx grew up gay in a time when that was very difficult, and he struggled with substance abuse for decades. Life dealt Waxx a tough hand, but he was a lively, likable and fiercely independent person who searched hard to be loved. He will be missed by all who knew him.
Christopher was pre-deceased by his parents, Floris Culver Smith and Jarvis Burton Prichard, and his stepbrother Tracy Jarvis Prichard.
He is survived by his brother Peter Smith Prichard (Ann) of Lyme, CT; stepmother Nancy Granger Prichard of West Fargo, ND and formerly of Thief Fiver Falls; his stepbrother Kelly Lee Prichard (Kathy) of Fargo, ND; niece Lindsay Margaret Prichard of Newburyport, MA, nephew Oliver William Prichard of Wellesley, MA.; step-nephew Owen Prichard of Fargo, ND, step-uncle Peter Granger (Jeanette) of Detroit Lakes, and many cousins including Douglas Smith (Barbara) of Severna Park, MD.
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