Wilbur Lee Mapp’s cement bust of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., sat for years at the corner of MLK, Jr. Drive and South Elm Street (featured, here, in 2010). Over the years, it began to show wear, as cement is not durable with respect to holding up to the elements. Greensboro sculptor Jim Gallucci worked with Mr. Mapp to cast the bust in bronze. Mr. Mapp was an integral part of the process to the very end. While he saw the bust completed in Mr. Gallucci’s studio, Mr. Mapp did not live to see the dedication and the work of art in its new home at the corner of MLK, Jr. Boulevard and Bragg Street.

Mr. Gallucci says that the situation is bittersweet. On the one hand, Mr. Mapp lived to see his sculpture converted to a more durable material, but he did not see it installed in the heart of the Ole Asheboro neighborhood. Fortunately, many of his family members were on hand  Monday for the dedication. They are featured above, with Mr. Gallucci who is on the left wearing a Russian-inspired hat.