From the desk of Alison Gibson, Director
While we have many postcards that have the Rankin House pictured, and we use them to show the changes in the building over the years, this is the only one we have that has written dialogue about the two of the most prevalent stories in Ripley—the Eliza crossing and Tice Davis crossing and disappearing on the Ripley side that started the term Underground Road, later phrased the Underground Railroad. The Capt. Rankin referred to here would be, our guess, Rev. John Rankin’s son Capt. Richard Calvin Rankin who had died in 1899. He was active in helping the slaves escape to freedom, and fortunately for historians, some of his speeches and writings appear in the Ripley Bee.
We were sorry to hear that Lee Edwards had passed away. As curator of the Ripley Museum from about 1994-2010, Lee enjoyed ‘digging deep’ for historical details which often were recorded in her column for the Bee. Lee had the ability to find worthy materials for the collection as well as increasing museum awareness. People who visited always felt welcome, and left with a deeper understanding of the history of Ripley.
We’ve had lots of children meet their goal of reading this summer and picking up their t-shirts– good job. Of course, we continue to have programs and other incentives to keep reading—we don’t want to hear the teachers say ‘our’ kids suffered from a reading slump when they go back to school. We also want to thank the Ripley Boat Club for adding that extra incentive to reach reading goals by offering kids a free pizza– what a generous gift—thanks.
Just a reminder, the Aberdeen Library has a recently purchased 3D printer and a staff member who loves to help our patrons use it as well as the various software programs that allow you to design items. Give the Aberdeen Library a call at 937-795-2534 to make a one-on-one appointment.
