When longtime Spencerport resident Robert Hewitt died in January 2005, his family selected the Ogden Farmers' Library as the recipient of donations made in his memory. Bob's wife, Irene, and his daughter, Nancy, worked with Patty Uttaro and Anne Strang at the library to decide how to spend the donations, which were directed towards improvements in the children's section of the library. Those improvements include a comfortable set of child-sized furniture featuring a love seat and easy chair with an ottoman, a colorful rug, an oversized plush lion, and a mural painted by local artist Clare VanEpps. Children have already taken to the furniture, and are often seen sprawled on the rug, leaning up against the lion, reading quietly or sharing a story with their parents, according to library staff. Perhaps the most fascinating addition to the children's section is the mural painted by Clare VanEpps, which features well-known fairy tale characters such as the "Three Little Pigs," "Puss-in-Boots," "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" and "Jack and the Beanstalk." The mural is made even more special by the fact that VanEpps painted the character of Jack climbing the beanstalk using a photo of Bob Hewitt as a child. VanEpps is a self-taught artist who learned to paint by borrowing books from the library. She spent more than 100 hours working on the mural and completed the last scene on July 19. The Hewitt family visited the library on July 1 and formally dedicated the new children's section. In addition to the improvements in the children's section of the library, a flowering pear tree was planted in Bob Hewitt's memory in the garden outside the library. |
