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Advance Community Library receives $5,000 donation
Gary Henson has always loved books, and his sister, Harlena Henson Francis, shared this love of reading with her younger brother. The son of Harley and Josephine Henson, Gary and his sister grew up in the family grocery store on the square in Advance.
During the week before Labor Day, 2015, Gary Henson returned to his home town from Aiken, South Carolina to attend his beloved sister's funeral.
When Henson and his sister were children, the only library Advance had was in the back of the city hall.
"I remember reading books together, with our feet propped on the wood stove, eating soda crackers and drinking milk," Henson recalls. "Mom would read to us from two books before going to bed. One book was Bible stories, and the other one was a book of poems, one for each day of the year. Harlena helped me read the poems, and we talked about them."
Harlena, several years older than her brother, went off to school, leaving him behind.
"I wanted to go to school with her, when she started first grade, and I cried, when she left me at home," Henson remembers. "She told me what to expect for each grade, as we progressed through the years. As I followed Herlena, I often heard, 'Gary, you're a very good student, but why can't you be as good as Herlena?' She was a wonderful student, tutor, and a loving sister for my journey through our Advance Elementary school years."
Henson's tribute to the memory of his sister has taken the form of a sizable $5,000 donation to the Advance Community Library, and the funds come at a crucial time in the life of the 11-year old library, which is expected to lose its current facility in the former Advance RIV School Administrative office beside the old gym as early as July, 2016.
"We knew, when the bond issue passed for the new FEMA Safe Room, that our days would be numbered in the current building," said library president Cara Mayberry. "The Safe Room will feature a new gym that may well be open for use by the community ball leagues. This means that the old gym will no longer be needed. We've been informed that the school district may do something else with the property that the gym and library currently occupy."
A major problem with the old gym, built by the WPA (Work Progress Administration), is the cost of maintaining it. According to recent figures given by Superintendent Stan Seiler, the utilities, supplies, and insurance on the building run $47,000 to $57,000 a year. The gym has not been used for regular games, since the current high school was built in 1997.
Gary Henson has indicated that his generous donation to the Advance Library may be used for books, children's reading programs--or to aid the library in finding another facility.
"Hopefully, this small donation will help other students explore the world, as my sister and I did," Henson said.