Grossmont College Library Exhibit Pays Tribute to Gordy Shields

                                         Top: Bicyclists assemble at Grossmont College for ride
                                         in memory of Gordy Shields.  Below: Shields, in portrait
                                         by Mona Mills, is remembered in Grossmont College
                                         library exhibit

EL CAJON -- The smiling senior citizen pictured in a new exhibit at the south entrance of the  Grossmont College Library is Gordy Shields, a former counselor who after retirement from the college became a local legend in the world of bicycling.  Besides winning numerous races as a senior citizen, Shields, who died earlier this year, was an effective advocate for the establishment of bike paths all over San Diego County.

Nadra Farina-Hess, interim associate dean for the library, said the painting of Shields was done by artist Mona Mills in connection with the San Diego County Library’s “Legends” exhibition which has been traveling from branch to branch.  One of several poses in which Mills had pictured Shields, the painting was loaned to Grossmont College Library by the San Diego County Library to be shown amid his bike jerseys and medals, and literature from the San Diego Bicycle Coalition.  The exhibit is expected to remain on view through the end of the Fall semester.

On Friday, October 25, Farina-Hess was among a contingent of bicyclists who rode about two miles from the Grossmont College campus to the Fletcher Hills branch of the San Diego County Library in a ride led by Dean Agustin Albarran of the English, Social and Behavioral Sciences Division, and Health Science technician Pat Murray.  

Grossmont College riders, whose ranks were swelled to 60 by neighbors and members of the cycling community, arrived at the library at time to hear remembrances of Shields from his daughter Valerie, and San Diego County Library Director Jose Aponte.  Albarran also spoke briefly.

Following the ceremony, Albarran and Murray, who both took Friday off as a vacation day, were joined by Aponte and others on a bike ride to the South Bay, to see the new Gordy Shields Memorial Bridge close to the Chula Vista Nature Interpretive Center.  The party then rode on to Coronado, where Murray boarded a ferry to return to San Diego.  The rest of the party retraced their ride.

-DHH-