Memorial planning unites Greenville, ECU

A couple of years ago, Ann Bellis wanted visitors to the Greenville Town Commons to know how high the Tar River rose during the flood of 1999.

So Bellis, a former instructor at ECU and a Sierra Club member, sought permission from the city to paint a blue mark on a pole to indicate the river's record crest.

What Bellis and the Sierra Club received instead was a collaborative effort between the club, the City of Greenville, the university and community members to create a permanent Floyd Flood Memorial.

A Flood Memorial Committee was formed, consisting of city, university and community leaders. With a $4,000 grant from the N.C. Arts Council, the committee commissioned the ECU School of Art to create three memorial models. Sculpture students submitted 13 models for the memorial, and three finalists were selected by a jury of local artists based on safety, cost and feasibility.

The three models were unveiled last month at the Greenville Museum of Art and residents will help select one of three to be a permanent fixture in the Greenville Town Commons.

In Model A, by Mac Metz, three bronze cast figures — two men and a child — adorn the top of a limestone base. One man is holding and passing the child into the care of the other man. The limestone base will stand at the height of the Tar River when it crested during the flood.

Model B, by Elizabeth Henley, offers benches and walking paths surrounding by a sand bag wall. The memorial will include a bronze plaque to narrate the facts surrounding Hurricane Floyd and the flood. Various artists would design the bags. Model C, by Kay Livick, includes two bronze figures: A man and a girl. One of the man's hands is over his head, showing the child an estimated water level.

Carl Billingsley (Art), a consultant to the memorial committee, described the effort as"an excellent collaboration between town and gown."

At the unveiling, artists, Greenville leaders, students and ECU community members reflected on the challenges of the flood and cast the first ballots for the vote to determine which model will be created.

"It's a time for remembering," said the Rev. Sydney Locke of Cornerstone Baptist Church."Today we reattach ourselves to those moments when city workers and houses of faith did what ever it took to make sure their neighbors were not hungry." Fundraising for the final sculpture will begin this summer and should be completed by fall of 2006.

ECU participants in the project include Michael Dorsey (Art); Marlene Muse; Billingsley; Alice Arnold (Art); Joyce Newman (English) and Mary Kathryn Thornton (English).