THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 24, 1994 TAG: 9408230133
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Garland Baker stood in the hot sun on an August afternoon, clutched a glistening wooden and brass plaque to his chest and gazed at the building where the plaque would soon hang.
It didn't belong to him, he explained, it belonged to all the people of the Windsor community, just like the new library that had for years been only a dream for the people of the town.
The plaque, dedicated to the memory of Baker's wife, Patricia White Baker, known affectionately in her hometown as ``Patsy,'' is in recognition of Baker's donation to help build the library and make the dream come true.
``Without the combined efforts of many, this would not have come about,'' said Joni Griffin, president of the Friends of the Library, at the dedication ceremony last week. ``This community is fast becoming an area of growth. This library is for our children, our senior citizens and high school students.''
Soon after plans for the library began, the Windsor Town Council received a letter from Baker, Windsor Mayor Robert C. Claud said.
In his letter, Baker told the council that he had a lot in Windsor that he wanted to donate to the town to be used as a park or for a public building, and he wanted whatever was placed on the lot to be in memory of his wife.
Patsy Baker grew up in Windsor, on East Griffin Street, Claud explained. When she died at 64 in 1993, her husband said, he took her share of the Windsor lot and bought out the rest of the family.
Even then, he said, it was his idea to leave his wife's memory in the town she loved.
The couple married in 1953 and lived in nearby Suffolk. When Baker retired from the Ford Motor Co., they moved to North Carolina. But they were frequent visitors to Windsor, he said, and his wife always thought of it as home.
Baker's gift to the town was sold, and the proceeds of the sale went toward building the library.
``Now, her memory will be here forever,'' Baker said at the dedication ceremony.
But it wasn't just the Bakers who helped the dream of a library in Windsor come true.
It was a cooperative effort, Griffin said, between the town, the county, the Isle of Wight County Schools and many citizens who were dedicated to the idea of Windsor having its own library.
Much of the labor in the small, white building that looks as much like a home in its residential setting on Duke Street as a public building was donated by vocational students in the county schools. Carpentry and masonry teachers at P.D. Pruden Vocational-Technical Center brought their classes to Windsor, and the students learned by doing.
Those students' names and the names of their teachers have been engraved on yet another plaque that will hang in the building.
``This was the same kind of experience the students would have gotten in a physics or biology lab,'' School Superintendent Jane T. York said. ``It was a real-life, work experience.''
And there were corporate donations as well, from Virginia Power and Community Electric Cooperative and Union Camp, Griffin said.
``It just demonstrates what can be done when we all work together,'' Claud said, smiling.
The library, at its official dedication was still empty, but shelves, furniture and books will begin rolling in now, Griffin said.
The Windsor Library, a branch of the Walter Cecil Rawls Library in Courtland, should be open by late September.
And there are still opportunities to be a part of the cooperative effort. The library needs a typewriter, office supplies, a magazine rack and a dictionary stand, among other things, Griffin said. MEMO: Donations may be sent to Friends of the Library, P.O. Box 54, Windsor,
Va. 23487.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II
A crowd gathers for the dedication of the new Windsor Library. It is
expected to open in late September.
by CNB