Shane Brown speaks at the dedication ceremony.
Anna Brigance | The Daily Mississippian
Last night the First Regional Library held a spectacle. There was a laughing, eager crowd in the lobby making far more noise than the usual regulations would allow. Children were running about with their parents not far behind, cooing them to quiet. Above the guitarist strumming in the corner, the boisterous noise of an anticipating horde filled the hall. This was the gathering that Larry Brown’s literary landmark dedication inspired.
“When we were kids, the first thing we were given was a library card by our dad,” said Leigh Anne Corbin, Brown’s daughter. “It was so important to him because, when he was a child, they didn’t have a lot of money and there wasn’t a lot of things to do but the one thing my grandmother would do is take him to the library. And they fell in love with it, and that’s where it all started.”
Brown passed away in 2004, and about the crowd one could hear murmurs of how much they missed him and the vast influence he had in each person’s life. During the speeches at the highlight of the event more than a few men and women wiped their eyes. A man like Larry Brown is not forgotten.
Brown, author of six critically acclaimed novels, loving father, fireman, carpenter, house-painter, hay-hauler and Oxford legend was honored with the dedication of a ceremonial plaque that will be placed at the front of the Oxford First Regional Library.
“It’s going to go outside so people can see it anytime day or night,” head librarian Laura Beth Walker said. “I really want it to be accessible to the whole community at all times.”
Brown’s family was excited for his work to be recognized in such a wonderful and loving way.
“He was so excited when he got to speak here that last time,” Corbin said. “It just means so much to our family that this all stems from a small child with a love of the library and reading.”
The beginning of the ceremony consisted of men and women sharing their favorite experiences of Larry with each other.
“My favorite memory of him is that every time he spoke he had a way of looking at you, and he would lean in close to hear what you say because what you had to say was so important.” said Andrea Brown-Ross, Brown’s niece.
The library expressed their thanks as well when Walker stated, “I am thankful for it because of all that Larry did for Lafayette County, Oxford and this library. He gave the keynote address for the addition in 1997, right there in the foyer when I just started working here.”
The library was a favorite place for Brown, he spent much of his life wandering amongst the shelves exploring the worlds between the pages. He is said to have found his greatest inspiration in the novels and atmosphere there.
“He had a passion for reading and for literature, and I truly think that this is where it started, with the library,” Corbin said.
It was no mistake that his ceremony was held in a place that he loved, and dwelled in for much of his life.
“I just feel like it’s come full circle,” Corbin said.
-Clara Turnage
Scturna1@go.olemiss.edu
