Everything seemed to be fine, but then the IJA came and disrupted his life again. He admits, "Sometimes I think the only two permanents in my life are the automobile and the IJA!" He had lost touch with the IJA for a while in the 1960s and 1970s, but enjoyed :he Youngstown "renaissance festival" in 1975, and had attended a few others for a day or so along the way. 

But a strong, unknown force drew him back into the fold for the 40th anniversary festival in Akron. Unfortunately, Art had fallen severely ill with kidney trouble as the time of :he convention drew near. He was hospitalized and not responding well to treatment. But he told the doctor he had to get out of bed to go to Akron for the convention. Carol pleaded with him not to go, but the doctor told he the only thing keeping him alive might be the anticipation of getting there. The doctor told Carol he might make it there, but that he night also never survive to return. "I felt I had to get to that convention," he said. 

He was ill throughout the week, and doesn't know how he made it through his public presentation. He was rehospitalized back home in San Antonio, but his kidney stones became infected and inoperable. He got sicker as the year went along, and could barely hold a glass of water by Christmas. 

His marriage to Carol only lasted a short time longer. She resented him going to Akron and accused him of caring more for the IJA than for her. He said, "When Carol and I separated she told me 'You think more of the damn organization than me or anything else,' and there was some truth in that." 

She was still vibrant, but he felt and looked much older because of his physical condition. Prompted by their age differential, he suggested they divorce, and after thorough discussion they mutually agreed to do so in 1988. But she has never left his heart. "I still keep her bathroom clean and keep her stuff in there, no one's allowed to use it," he confessed. "There's a pastel painting I did of her in there, and a painting I did of the two of us in there also. We were never apart for that first 17 years." 

His historical perspective gives him a sweeping view of not only the glories of the ages, but of the travail. "It's fascinating how history repeats itself," he said, referring to rifts in the IJA he claims almost destroyed the organization. "We've had many firestorms," he admits. 

Jennings hoped to avoid strife among jugglers when he created the IJA. As work got scarcer, he saw more fights among his juggling friends. "Bobby May swore Ben Berry stole his act 'til the day he died," said Jennings. "Then we had a row between Ben Berry and Val Setz. Since I was friends to all of them I didn't think it was a good idea at all. 

He had agreed to serve as IJA president again in 1955 when members elected him to try to calm some personality conflicts that threatened the organization. It was a crisis that "almost brought the IJA to a screeching, grinding halt," he said. But once he and Carol hit the road, he lost regular touch with the association. The organization suffered lean times during those years, also. Its potential membership base was always small, and many professionals never saw it as being in their best interest. As the older vaudevillians retired or passed on, there weren't many new jugglers to take their places. Personality conflicts alienated or chased away some members, and by the late 1960s membership was down to 150 and 25 was a good showing for an annual convention. 

The low point was the 1967 convention in Fallsburgh, N.Y., which only 10 people attended - not enough to elect officers. The Constitution was amended to allow election of absent members. 

Officers decided to make the 1968 convention the litmus test of whether to maintain or fold the organization. Only nine people out of 150 contacted by mail said they planned to attend. George Barvin, veteran of many conventions and then president, made he call to cancel the convention. 

But while the traditional eastern, Vaudeville-based membership of the organization had lost its energy, a new enthusiasm for juggling was building on the west coast. Roger Dollarhide, a young member, had moved to California from Washington state to join a growing number of jugglers there. He and others had organized a 1967 "First Annual IJA Western Convention," and planned one for 1968. When the 1968 convention was canceled, Dollarhide proposed that the west coast gathering be sanctioned as the official IJA convention for that year.

Art briefly did a family act with Art Jr. and Ruth

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