BECKLEY, W.V. (LOOTPRESS) – The City of Beckley is planning to honor Bill Withers, a West Virginia native and Grammy Award-winning musician, with a bronze statue. According to Mayor Rob Rappold, the statue will sit in the Beckley Intermodal Gateway.
For months, Pastor Frederick Hightower, the artist responsible for the sculpture of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, which sits on the West Virginia State University campus, has worked to sculpt a prototype of the sculpture, which will be sent to a foundry and cast in bronze. Once the prototype is sent to the foundry it could take as little as four months or as long as a year to be completed and then unveiled in Beckley.
Until then, the City of Beckley is working with the Beckley Area Foundation to create a named fund so that the community can donate money to help finance the sculpture. The city is working closely with an extension agent from West Virginia State University, who is consulting them on how the university was able to fund its sculpture of Johnson, which Mayor Rappold says has been extremely helpful.
According to Mayor Rappold, it was the community who brought the idea of memorializing Withers with a sculpture to the city.
“He [Withers] is one of those people who was very likable back then, and everything that I have read and heard, he remained very likable, as well as being an extremely talented artist,” Mayor Rappold stated. “We are proud of this son of Beckley and want to honor him in an appropriate manner.”
Wither’s family has been made aware of the sculpture and has expressed intentions of attending the unveiling ceremony.
