Family gathers in Elmore Library (with photo gallery)

by Sherry Digmon
July 28th, 2010

The Elmore-Hollis-Perkins reunion returned to Atmore this year.

They gathered Thursday, July 22, at the building attached to the back of the Boy Scout hut at Craig and Carney streets..

The building has a special meaning for this group. They’re related to Cornelia Elmore (1868-1958), the lady for whom a branch of W.R. Holley Library (now Atmore Public Library) was named. For many years, Mrs. Elmore was an educator in South Alabama, serving as a supervisor in Baldwin and Escambia

county schools before she retired.

Among civic organizations she worked with were the American Red Cross and the Alabama Department of Welfare.

A group of Atmore citizens wished to create a memorial in her honor, and the Cornelia Elmore Public Library was dedicated in July 1971. It was located on 8th Avenue (now Martin Luther King Avenue).

In 1980, the building was relocated to the main library site and provided space for the children’s and juveniles’ book section.

In later years, the building was moved again, this time to the corner of Craig and Carney and attached to the Boy Scout hut.

Years of neglect and several hurricanes had all but demolished the buildings.

The Leadership Class of 2009 took on the buildings as a project, and with the help of Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sheryl Vickery and Byard Swift, work is progressing on repairing the Boy Scout hut and the Elmore Library.

Pictured at top, in the old Cornelia Elmore library, from left, seated in front, Barbara Webb, Pensacola; Nellie Myles, Atmore; second row, Shelly Williams, Atmore Chamber office manager; Angie New and Amber New, Atlanta; Marcelete Hollis Harris, Atmore; Rosalind Thomas, Houston, Texas; Pat Myles and Nicole Myles, Bay Minette; Delores Gandy, Atmore; Joann McNeil, Atmore; Carolyn West, McDonough, Ga.; Sheryl Vickery, Chamber executive director; Donnie Boatwright, who is repairing the building; back, the Rev. Humphrey Shuford, Atmore; Arralean Ellis, Fairfax, Va.; Edward Myles, Bay Minette; Edward Myles Jr., Ft. Campbell, Ky.; Jerry Rostchild, Atmore; Ariana Spivey, Ft. Campbell, Ky.

Click here for more photos from the reunion.

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