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Danny Travis Bedsole |
The Randolph-Macon College community mourns the loss of former R-MC library director Danny Travis Bedsole, who died at his home in Ashland on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 79 years old.
Bedsole was appointed Library Director at R-MC in 1984. He spearheaded a $4 million renovation and expansion of the McGraw-Page Library and also took on the task of changing its classification system from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress System. By 1988, the new McGraw-Page Library was completed. Bedsole ushered the library into the 21st century and implemented an automated catalogue, allowing users to find research materials via the computer; he also added media services, media collections and computer resources to the library. Bedsole retired from R-MC in April 2000, but remained a fixture on campus.
Bedsole was a member and elder of the Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, served on the endowment committee, and sang in the choir for many years.
Born in Louann, Arkansas on May 30, 1930, Bedsole was the fourth child of Talmage Franklin Bedsole and Mary Jane Knight. When Dan he one year old, his family moved to Greggton, Texas, in the piney wooded eastern part of the state, an oil boom area at the time.
In Greggton the family lived close to the general store that they owned, selling groceries as well as gasoline. As a boy Bedsole was an enterprising young man, delivering the
Saturday Evening Post each week and selling scrap iron in Greggton as part of the war effort during WWII.
Although he was admitted for enrollment at Rice University in Houston, he decided at the last minute to enroll at Anderson College, the liberal arts college of the Church of God, with the intention of preparing for a teaching vocation. Bedsole majored in mathematics with minors in chemistry and history as he was preparing to become a high school teacher. He played on the varsity tennis team and sang in the men’s choral group, was president of the Science Club and belonged to the Sachem club, an informal fraternity.
In 1952 Bedsole enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years of service. After being honorably discharged with the rank of Corporal, he returned to Longview and, because G.I. Bill funds were available for attending college, he enrolled in the graduate school at the University of Michigan and began courses in the summer of 1954 in the mathematical statistics program. In 1955 he received his M.A. in mathematical statistics. He then decided to pursue a second master’s degree in library science, which he earned in 1957.
Bedsole then pursued his Ph.D., with his research topic focusing on “Library Systems in Large Industrial Corporations.” Over the next four years he completed his research and published his findings in 1961. He earned his Ph.D. degree in 1961.
While residing in the Hartford area, Bedsole served as the president of the Emmanuel Congregationalist Church’s “Fireside Club” for unmarried young adults. In 1965 Bedsole was named library director at Austin College, later becoming dean and provost.
In addition to his wife, Leola, of 49 years, Bedsole is survived by a daughter, Linda Ruth Bonness of State College, Pennsylvania; sons, Thomas Franklin Bedsole of Indianapolis, Indiana and Stephen Justus Bedsole of Stafford, Virginia; a brother, Thomas Kenneth (Bud) Bedsole of White Oak, Texas; two sisters, Rosemary Mitchell and Beverly Tinsley, of Georgetown, Texas; and eight grandchildren.
A memorial service was held on Sunday, May 16 at Duncan Memorial United Methodist Church in Ashland.
Additional information can be viewed at
www.nelsencares.com. Donations may be sent to the American Parkinson Disease Association (
www.apdaparkinson.org).