DUANE SHERRILLEditor

Successful businessman and celebrated author Bud Willis kicked off the fundraising arm of the Friends of Coffee County Libraries this past week by spelling out the importance public libraries have in the development of communities.

“Without libraries, we are cut off from the rest of the world,” Willis told the crowd on hand at The Atlantic Wednesday for the event. “Libraries are more than just books.”

Willis pointed out that many people do not have access to broadband internet nor are they able to afford to buy books. However, the library opens up the world to them by providing access to technology as well as the ability to gain knowledge through reading.

He pointed out that one of his successful novels, “Bluestocking” is about gratitude and it is about his mom who raised nine children. He pointed out he grew up poor and therefore, the only access to books he had as a child came from the library.

“There are millions of people out there just like my mom,” he noted. “The library was an important place for us.”

He added that libraries are more than repositories for books but they are a beacon for high learning. “Libraries play a central role for lifelong learning.”

Willis said the role of libraries are “morphing” due to advancement in technology. As such, libraries are having to supply more digital items as well as being an oasis for the internet and computer-accessibility.

“Back during the pandemic we learned that many children didn’t have access to broadband internet which impeded their learning,” he said. “Now millions are being spent to bring broadband to rural areas but presently there are still many places where the only access to broadband is the public library.”

Willis noted that he will be glad to help the Friend of the Library raise money to provide things that the local libraries may need that are not covered.

“One band robber was asked why he robbed banks,” Willis said. “The robber responded that the banks are where the many is. The same is true in raising money. You have to go where the money is and then you have to ask. I have no problem asking and neither does our friend Dot Watson who convinced me to travel over a thousand miles to come here and speak with you today.

Willis, who originally hails from Tullahoma but presently lives in Florida, is the author of “Blue Stocking” and “Marble Mountain”. He graduated from Tullahoma High School and Tennessee Tech University. In 1963, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and was decorated 32 times with air medals, having flown 640combat missions as a Marine medical evacuation pilot during the Vietnam conflict.

Later he began an investment career with J. C. Bradford & Co. in Nashville, becoming a partner and developing several branch offices from Ohio to Pensacola, Florida. While in Clarksville, he was awarded the city’s highest honor, the Community Achievement Award. In Pensacola, he was named Emerging Leader of the Year, Business Leader of the Year, and Community Leader of the Year, while serving as Commissioning Chairman of the billion dollar warship, the USS Mitscher, also earning him the Pride of Pensacola Award.

At the 1995 J.C. Bradford Leadership Convention, Bud was presented his company’s first Community Involvement Award after serving as Senator Lamar Alexander’s Presidential campaign coordinator in Pensacola.

The Tennessee Jaycees named him Tennessee’s Outstanding Young Man for service to his community, state, and country in a service in Gatlinburg sponsored by Elvis Presley, who had previously received that honor.

As a writer, he was awarded the prestigious “Southern Writer’s Award” in Memphis joining previous notables such as John Grisham, Shelby Foote, Eudora Welty among others. He and his wife, Lee, also appeared on the TODAY show on NBC with Kathy Lee and Hoda Kotb with a story from his book “Bluestocking.”