TOMS RIVER – For decades, visitors to the main branch of the Ocean County library have been greeted by a young girl reading a book, but who is she?
A plaque in front of the statue was dedicated in 1987 in memory of Virginia Tross Harvey. She was a woman who frequented the library, said local history librarian Allison Nazzaro.
“She loved to read, she loved cats, and she loved art. She passed in 1985 and her family wanted to do something nice to remember her,” Nazzaro said.
The family raised $5,000 and the library commission matched it, she said. The result was a statue that “represented her, her love of reading, her love of cats and of course the sculpture represented her love of art.”
Harvey’s husband, John, and children, John Jr., Ann Housner and Christina Russell, attended the dedication ceremony, according to an Asbury Park Press article covering the event. It was noted that the husband was a community relations manager at Ciba-Geigy.
“The Ocean County Library was one of her favorite places,” he said. “We believe that she would be pleased that we chose the library as the site for the sculpture in her memory.”
Clifton Sheely, from the Johnson Technical Institute of Sculpture in Hamilton, spent eight months making the work of art. He used his six-year-old niece as the model. He died in 1998 at the age of 41.
“A girl reading seems just right for the spot and the cat gives the piece a wonderful quality of harmony,” Sheely was quoted by the Press. The artist and the niece were unable to attend the dedication.
