Bookmobiles enjoy a rich history of providing “knowledge on wheels” and “food for thought” to young and older readers alike, especially in rural areas of America, Virginia and Patrick County.
Much of my early curiosity about the world beyond my own rural community stemmed from the Patrick County Library’s “welcomed wagon of books.”
In my formative years, when my brother, Larry, and I lived at our paternal grandparents’ farm on Route 8, north of the county seat of Stuart, legend has it that our grandparents’ home was the only private residence where the library’s Bookmobile stopped for book checkouts, so great was the number of books checked out on a monthly basis.
Apparently, there was a limit placed on the number of books checked out by one individual on a monthly basis, so I enlisted my brother and a friend to check out books that I wanted to read beyond the limit. The then librarian and bookmobile driver was the angelic Miss Lady Louise Clark, who I’ve always suspected smiled and looked approvingly the other way at such a voracious appetite for books.
I’ve never forgotten that experience of many years ago and the importance of public investments in libraries and bookmobiles.
Years later, when I was serving as Governor of Virginia, I made an early, personal financial contribution when plans were announced to build a new Patrick County Library; and it was a pleasure to speak later at the dedication of the county’s new “temple of knowledge” and to donate a world globe as a symbol to young readers that one can travel the world through books without ever leaving home.
I still visit the county’s library and museum occasionally when I’m “back home.” Perhaps on my next visit, I can “check out” the new bookmobile.
Under separate cover, I am sending my check in gratitude, and to support the local efforts to purchase a new bookmobile for a new generation of readers.
With kindest regards, I am
Gerald L. Baliles
Governor of Virginia (1986-90)
