Accomack Board approves naming of areas of the new library for prominent local citizens

The Accomack County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to name areas of the new Library after 3 prominent local citizens who have a long history of supporting the Library and educating local students.

The Lecture Hall will be appropriately named for Mr. Dennis Custis.  Custis has given much to the Eastern Shore both as a retired teacher (with 30 years experience) and as a former principal of Onancock High School at the age of 24, and a principal of Nandua High School at the age of 50. Many of our civic leaders today are former students of Mr. Custis including the former Governor of Virginia (Ralph Northam). Mr. Custis has a vast knowledge and love of sports, especially baseball and basketball, and has spent a lot of years coaching young students during their academic careers. Mr. Custis has left his mark on the developing minds of many on the Shore. Now in his retirement years, he continues to spread his love of teaching by giving lectures on the history of the Eastern Shore and shows a passion that makes all who attend those lectures more grateful for the time spent with him. Mr. Custis is revered by his fellow historians for the extent of his knowledge and for his passion. His love of history also extends to the point of restoring older homes; he will sometimes attend meetings in his work clothes.

He is currently a member of the Board of Trustees for the Eastern Shore Public Library and has also served as a Director on the Eastern Shore Public Library Foundation. Because of his love of teaching and his devotion to preserving our heritage, it is recommended that the Lecture Hall be named in his honor.

Rochelle Taccino Gray is a Virginian, graphic designer, and businessperson who graduated from VCU in the late seventies. After working in Chicago, she moved to Alexandria with her husband Clifford Gray where she opened up TGD Communications design studio in the mid eighties. Her business has grown exponentially, and she has always donated her time and talents to charities in addition to running an extremely successful business. Rochelle and her husband Cliff started summering in Chincoteague back in the nineties and were so captivated by the local landscape, culture, and people that they bought a home in Corbin Hall. Since the very founding of the Eastern Shore Public Library Foundation over a decade ago in 2010, Rochelle has provided tireless professional services to the Foundation and the ESPL itself in the form of graphics and design applied to almost all areas of the ESPL’s range of needs and services, from corporate identities to promotional materials for fund raising, from website design and maintenance, from signage and banners to bookmarks and pencils. The estimated value of the services she has donated since 2010 is easily beyond the $100,000 mark, making her the major donor in kind to the Foundation and the ESPL System itself.

Rochelle Taccino Gray is currently providing services for interior and exterior signage at the Regional Library as well as graphics to be used for the embellishment of the walls themselves.

The Library Entryway was sponsored by and will be named for Colette and Bill Nelson. Bill and Colette returned to the Shore in 1983 and moved to the family farm where they reside to this day.  The Nelsons, upon their arrival in August of 1983, have been involved in supporting the Eastern Shore Public Library, and this support continues to this day.