Northeast Duplin Communities Library will be open for viewing
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on October 30, 2005 2:02 AM
ALBERTSON -- The Northeast Duplin Communi-ties Library is almost ready to open, and people will be able to go inside during the upcoming fund-raising event there.
The new library is in the former Peary Davis home at the intersection of N.C. 903 and N.C. 111. Coming from Goldsboro on N.C. 111 look left for the R-Mart and then to your right. You'll see a large crowd this coming Saturday during the second annual Jamboree and Stewfest.
All of the rooms have been named by people who gave $10,000 donations to the library, but the library's name can still be changed for a $50,000 donation.
Mary Anna Grady found out former students named a room after her on a rainy night at a special called meeting of the library board. She almost didn't go to the meeting.
"I was never so shocked," Ms. Grady said. "I had on blue jeans, and I came dragging in from a grueling day in Kinston."
She saw about 25 people, almost all of them former students.
"I thought, 'What are all these former students doing here?'"
The former students had donated $10,000 and named the prep room after her. They were from all through her teaching career. She said she taught three generations of some of the families.
The circulation desk will be in the front room, which was named after James McRae Grady, Mary Anna's grandfather. The James McRae Grady room has four large armchairs where people can read by a fireplace.
The Heritage Room with autobiographies, local history and copies of families' genealogy got its name from the Donald and Janice Grady family. The bookshelf on one wall came from the Old Chinquapin School.
The Murphy Brown room has three computers in it, a donation from the D.L. Scott Insurance Agency.
The Children's Room got its name from the Rose Jones family.
The Simmons Room was named by the descendants of Nathan and Addie Simmons. The Simmons room will eventually hold the fiction category of books.
The Jamboree and Stewfest will begin at 8 a.m. and will feature activities for all ages, including children's games and an inflatable, and for the adults, a horse shoe tournament that begins at noon. The B.F. Grady Elementary School Art Club will do face painting. Music groups will perform all day until an auction set for 3 p.m., and a hand-made quilt will be given away.
For a donation of $5 you can sample all you can hold of an endless array of stews made on site.
Children who don't care for stew can get a taco made by authentic Mexican Chef Juan Pablo for $1, and they can get a hot dog for $1, too.
Children will have a dress-up tea party at 9:30 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. in the Mary Anna Grady Room of the library. Ghost stories are set for 11:30 a.m., and story time is set for noon, 12:30 and 1 p.m. in the Children's Room.