Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104050270
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The model, about 4 feet long, 18 inches wide and 2 1/2 feet high, is a memorial to Don Smith, a Sunday school worker whose association with Grandin Court Baptist Church began nearly 20 years ago. It was created by a life-termer at the medium-security prison in Bland County.
Don Smith "loved using his creative talents to make things for others to enjoy," his son wrote in a letter to the church' pastor, the Rev. Robert M. Hamner, before the family presented the model.
David Smith said his father, while working with the children at Grandin Court, showed the same same love, kindness and compassion that he showed to his own children and grandchildren.
"Please use this to give the Childrens' Department a hands-on learning experience in their study of the Bible," the letter said.
David Smith, assistant warden at the Bland center, had Stephen Reedy, a 34-year-old man convicted of murder, make the Noah's Ark model.
David Smith and Reedy met when Smith was working in counseling and rehabilitation at the maximum-security prison in Mecklenburg County. The counselor noticed that Reedy spent a lot of time producing afghans, which he gave or sold to friends outside the walls.
Reedy was moved to the Bland prison about the time David Smith took a rehabilitation job at the prison. Smith encouraged Reedy's hobby.
From afghan pattern books, the inmate learned how to produce toy animals. It was a natural step for Reedy to a collection and a Noah's Ark, David Smith said.
The ark for Smith was Reedy's second. The first was sold in Texas.
Don Smith and his wife, Kathy, moved to Roanoke from Knoxville, Tenn., in 1971 when David was a teen-ager. Smith, an engineer, came to manage the office of Honeywell Temperature Controls. His wife went to work at the Lewis-Gale Hospital pharmacy.
While David was growing up, the Smiths became fascinated with what Kathy Smith now calls "activity teaching," a kind of hands-on method of involving youngsters in Bible study. Both of them liked working with children, especially with elementary-school age youngsters. Don Smith subsequently became a devoted worker with the children at the Grandin Court Baptist.
Don Smith had to give up his church work after developing heart disease. Surgery in 1989 failed to correct his problem, and he died a year ago.
Now the ark is displayed in the church foyer. It has three layers including the roof. Primarily brown in color, its detail amazes the staff.
Noah and his wife, each about 7 inches high, keep company with about 50 crocheted animals. Crafted to scale in realistic colors, they include kangaroos, elephants, tigers and a pair of lions.
A raccoon has rings in its tail, and the diminutive coverlet on Noah's wife's bed is patterned. Zebras, sheep, goats, turtles and camels may be removed from their compartments in the big boat by small hands and replaced through the windows and the ramp, which opens.
Noah, with a flowing beard, commands the wheel of his vessel, which the Genesis story says survived a flood that covered the Earth for more than a month. Noah had built his boat, as commanded by God, to save at least one each of the existing species of life.
Appropriately, the ark contains a large black raven that Scripture says was sent by Noah to test whether it was safe to venture out. It wasn't, but later, doves - which Reedy has sitting on the ark roof - showed the survivors the way was clear.
Only one thing is missing. Reedy couldn't come up with the rainbow that Bible tradition says represents God's promise never to send such a rain again.
by CNB