Way back in the late 1980s and early ’90s, my mother and I volunteered with an 80-year-old nun who had asked to leave her convent in the Museum District years before so that she could live and work in Manchester and Blackwell.
Her name was Sister Ligouri Garvey. She wore the old-school black habit and lived in a house next door to Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Perry Street, from which she ran a clothing and food bank. She also housed people in need, including myself when I sank into a clinical depression stemming from a broken college romance.
Though she didn’t drive herself, Sister Ligouri had volunteer drivers who picked her up every day, and she told them where to go — sometimes we went to the St. Francis Home for the aged on Clopton Street, sometimes we picked up a neighborhood family and off we went to June Jubilee. You never knew where the day would take you.
During that time, I also saw the rise of the Sacred Heart Center, under the strong Jesuit leadership of Mike Maruca and John Dear and the support of the Junior League of Richmond.
There is a theme in South Side: individuals who dig in and make things happen.
I share all this because there is a theme in South Side: individuals who dig in and make things happen.
That’s what comes through in this month’s package of stories about Blackwell and Manchester — a package spurred by a proposed historic district expansion that caught Blackwell residents by surprise.
Reporters Lauren Francis and Kate Andrews share the story of Anthony Binga Jr. and the rise of the First Baptist Church of South Richmond and the story of Blackwell Elementary’s namesake family.
They introduce us to the longtime keepers of the flame: 90-year-old Eddie “Dick” Radden, Charles Vaughan and Bishop Ernest Moore.
And they shine the spotlight on those stepping up: Anthony “A.J.” Brewer, Preston Page, Tia Redd and others.
Supporting those who have dug in and engaging them from the outset when new ideas are floated is the Blackwell community’s bottom line in this story, as well as knowing when to say, “I overstepped. I’m sorry. Can we move forward, together?”
