Bill Dory a blessing for Greencastle

To the Editor:

Several weeks ago, Mr. Bernsee wrote such a nice article about Bill Dory (Daze Work, Sept. 21), it brought to mind how I knew him in a different light.

Having worked for the Division of Historic Preservation under the direction of Richard Ganty, I first met Bill Dory in the early 1980s at a Mainstreet Indiana program in Madison.

As you may know, Madison was one of three towns in America who started a Mainstreet program sponsored by the Department of Interior and The National Trust.

After Judy O'Bannon worked with the Indiana Department of Commerce to start Mainstreet Indiana, Bill became one of their most valuable assets. His quite thoughtful ways always worked so well with the skeptics of a Mainstreet program. His knowledge of architecture, how to manage preservation in your town, and all the different components of making Mainstreet work was such a gift for the state and Mainstreet Indiana.

When he left and came back to Greencastle in the 1980s and '90s. I was always dragging groups from Northeast Indiana to see one of the finest Mainstreet projects in the state.

What a loss for the preservation field when he chose to pursue a different path.

What a blessing for Greencastle, having someone working so hard to make our community a better place to live.

Mary Pifer Mountz
Retired historic preservation consultant
Greencastle