There’s a new sculpture in the Children’s Reading Garden at the Central Library. The sculpture is a boy riding his bike, looking like he’s in a hurry to be on his way.
Dr. Joseph Dudley was a friend of the library. He loved to come to the library, often riding his bike to get there. He liked to find a comfortable chair and work difficult crossword puzzles, not the easy ones. He often stationed himself on the second floor of the old Central Library, in a little nook near the Business Science Department.
He was engrossed in his crossword puzzle most days, but he was never too busy to stop and chat. I enjoyed our talks about travel, having relatives in Seattle, his biking adventures, and hearing about his exploits as a young man in Winston-Salem.
One day he mentioned that Frank Jones once took his photograph as a young man. He couldn’t remember the exact date, but he did remember the circumstances. According to Joe, he was playing golf at Old Town Club, and a helicopter pilot (and his helicopter) interrupted his golf game. The pilot asked if Joe would help him prove that a helicopter is versatile. He wanted to carry Joe from shot to shot on the golf course.
Joe consented to the experiment, and the pilot gave Joe a helicopter ride around town just for being a good sport. As he described this event, I remembered two unidentified photographs in the photo collection involving a helicopter. I pulled the two images and showed them to him. Sure enough, these were the photos of his helicopter experience. I guess I did not recognize Joe as a teenager. After our conversation, two images were not longer unidentified and I had a great story to tell. I even used one of the images in my Frank Jones book.
When the new Central library was built, Joe and his wife, Mary, donated funds to build a study/work room on the third floor. He continued to visit the library, often riding his bike or driving his car, as long as his health permitted it.
Joe passed away in 2019. The photo shown above, made in 1980, was part of the Coppedge Studios photograph collection that is housed at the library.
When you come to the Central Library, you can see the sculpture and the plaque outside of the Children’s Department. The quotation on the plaque is by Peter Golkin: “My two favorite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library.”
Thanks, Joe, for choosing our library to spend your time and for taking the time to chat.
Color photographs by Molly Grogan Rawls. Black and white photograph courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
