CONTACT:
TomGillespie
FOR RELEASE: June 4, 2001 Telephone:
336-879-7202
NC Zoo Statue Dedication Honors Young Cancer Victim
ASHEBORO – A giraffe sculpture dedication Wednesday at the North
Carolina Zoological Park will have special significance for an Asheboro
family and a family friend whose dream has come to fruition.
In 1999, Asheboro resident Kandy Yow Wilkerson, through a dream, was
inspired to raise money to memorialize cancer victim Michael Carlisle,
the 6-year-old son of Wilkerson’s friend and co-worker Yvonne Carlisle.
That memorial, a bronze giraffe sculpture, will be dedicated at the
zoo’s lower giraffe overlook Wednesday at 10:30.
Through ticket raffles, Wilkerson personally raised more than
$5,000, an amount matched by Klaussner Furniture Industries, Inc.
Additional funds were supplied by various donors through the N.C. Zoo
Society.
Greensboro artist Jane Tucker Bailey, who created the sculpture,
will attend the dedication along with Wilkerson and Carlisle.
The bronze sculpture, installed in April, was placed at the lower
giraffe overlook for children and all zoo visitors to see and touch.
Bailey’s other sculptures at the zoo include another bronze giraffe at a
second overlook and a bronze elephant sculpture at the elephant
overlook.
For more information on the zoo’s animal and plant collections,
special events and conservation and education programs, go to the zoo
Web site at www.nczoo.org.
The zoo is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary; Michael F. Easley,
Governor.
Editor’s Note: News media representatives who desire to attend the
dedication are asked to meet at the zoo’s Africa entrance at 10:15.
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