Human Flower Project
A Sheaf in the Library
Cut down in his prime, Bill Stein died last week, at age 54—but not before having a big impact on one little town: Columbus, Texas. Bill was raised here, moved off, travelled extensively and returned, bringing his talent for Socratic inquiry, his devotion to classical music and his passion for historical research back to Colorado County. As librarian in Columbus, he moved mountains and preserved mountains too.
Someone laid a sheaf of winter grasses bound with black ribbon as a memorial on the bookshelf just outside his office at the Nesbitt Memorial Library in Columbus, a beautiful tribute to a man of erudition who devoted so much of himself to this little town on the blackland prairie.
Memorial to Bill Stein, archivist and community leader, inside the Nesbitt Memorial Library, Columbus, Texas
Photo: Bill Bishop