Museum of Life and Science: Difference between revisions

Richard (Dick) Wescott played a major role in the development and growth of the MLS during his tenure as director of the MLS. He began there as a volunteer, soon became the curator, and by 1970 had become executive director, although he continued to fill the role of curator as well. Over the years, both he and the museum flourished. By the early 70's, when the name was changed to the NC Museum of Life and Science, the little green hut on Murray Avenue had grown into a complex with several buildings housing a wide range of collections, artifacts, models, and murals, highlighted through a number of permanent exhibits. With the support of local friends and board members like Carolyn London and the late Dr. Kenneth Hall and the building of new relationships with others, such as the late Louis Purnell, at the National Air & Space Museum and the late Michael Collins, an Apollo 11 crew member, the museum continued to grow, building one of the finest collections of space memorabilia in the country. This exhibit featured a representation of the Apollo 15 flight and included one of only four, extant Lunar Landing Modules(LEM), as well as a one-of-a- kind walk through the entire process of launching a rocket, designed specifically for blind visitors. The museum also grew a significant collection of live animals and Dick began to collaborate with Jim Fowler and others, as they planned for the creation of an exhibit in and around the abandoned rock quarry across the street from the original complex. The narrow gauge railroad, which remains operative, was the first step in building a unique exhibit of native species living in a natural habitat. Dinosaur Trail - more than twenty life-size models have resided along the banks of Ellerbee Creek, for some thirty years now - designed and constructed by Dick, with the help of a handful of volunteers and his ever-present "right hand, " the late Willie Holloway, after a visit to the museum by the late Dr. Louis Leakey. In the late 70's, he and Margie relocated to Augusta, GA. where he was director of the Augusta-Richmond County Museum for the next fifteen years.