DATE: Thursday, September 4, 1997           TAG: 9709040047

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS HANSEN, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   89 lines

BRONZE BUSTS HONOR FORMER VIRGINIA FIRST COUPLE

SHE APPROACHES the bronze bust with a slow, stately walk, tilts her head and offers a curious gaze.

It's her, with a little new work on the alloy coif.

``The hardest thing is the hair,'' says Virginia's only two-time first lady, Katherine B. Godwin. ``A woman's hair changes all the time.''

In a commonwealth life of honors, orders and declarations, Katherine, 80, and her husband, former two-time Gov. Mills E. Godwin Jr., 82, have collected just about all of them.

To be recognized by a 150-pound bronze busts, dear, that is a first.

``All this was new to

me,'' says Katherine, visiting sculptor Paul DiPasquale's Richmond barn studio on a recent summer afternoon to give final approval of the figure.

``How many people have that done?''

In truth, she says, it is a little different to see herself in bronze.

``It makes me feel dead,'' she says - then laughs and winks a blue eye that held the rapture of a certain handsome country lawyer from Chuckatuck 57 years ago.

The country lawyer would become the Commonwealth's only twice-elected Governor, winning first in 1966 as a Democrat and again in 1974 as a Republican.

Godwin, still widely popular and admired in state politics, could have had any number of bi-partisan groups or fraternal organizations willing to commission a monumental tribute.

Rather, it was commissioned by one of the governor's favorite special interest groups - students.

In 1994, young adults from five classes at the Mills E. Godwin High School in Richmond collected $5,000 to commission a plaster bust of the former governor.

The high school students commissioned DiPasquale, already noted for his Arthur Ashe sculpture on Richmond's Monument Avenue.

The Godwins invited DiPasquale for lunch at their Cedar Point home in Suffolk. His half-hour appointment turned into a two-hour tour through scores of old photos, stories and memories.

The artist returned to his barn studio in Richmond and began studying a collection of photos from the 1970s, and sketching the governor every day.

After a few months, he worked up a clay model of the governor and showed it to him.

Privately, Godwin was pleased with the results, and approved the idea to have the bust made in bronze, said Bruce Miller, long-time aide to the governor.

Fundraising quickly followed, and DiPasquale was able to cast the high school bust in bronze.

Miller coordinated the effort to have the first couple honored at Virginia Wesleyan College.

Eventually, the finished pieces will be displayed at the college in a planned, $3.8 million Katherine and Mills Godwin Administration Building.

They will be unveiled at a ceremony at the Commonwealth Club in Richmond on Wednesday.

In the studio, DiPasquale manages to placate his patron, and explains why he chose the lighter, parted hairstyle on the bust.

It's part of his job, he says, to combine his talents with the Godwins' vision.

DiPasquale said the Godwins have been generous, visiting the studio at least six times to offer suggestions and final approvals.

Katherine was concerned that an earlier version just didn't have her style. And after all, these busts could last an awfully long time.

The Godwins' sculptures, unless accident or revolution overturns them, will last long after their names are forgotten.

``They represent a moment that we want marked in history,'' DiPasquale explains.

The Godwins have plenty of history to mark.

During Gov. Godwin's first term, state aid for public schools more than doubled, and minimum salaries for teachers rose significantly.

College and university funding also doubled, and, over objections from the legislature, Godwin initiated the plans for a statewide community college system.

In bronze, ``he's being acknowledged as the education governor,'' DiPasquale says.

Katherine warms to the look of her monument's hair style, which has been re-worked twice.

``It's just as good as Mills','' she says, gazing at the two figures side by side.

``It's prettier than Mills','' DiPasquale adds and smiles.

A little later, Katherine smiles, too, and adds a hug of approval for the work before she leaves.

``This is the governor and his wife,'' DiPasquale said. ``They have to be right.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo by John H. Sheally

Katherine Godwin...

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