When Mary Harder and I spoke on the phone about Beaux Arts Galleria, I will admit to half-listening at first. Having lived in the "big city" for two decades, then having returned to my hometown, I keep trying to find my former life in some way.  I was thinking, "Did she know the dashing David Harder, an upper classman when I was a bespectacled eighth grader at Blacksburg High School?"

During the classic conversation that begins, "Are you local?", I learned that not only did she know David Harder, she married him! 

And then I learned she, too, was from around here.  She was Mary Munford Harder.

Oh, I was taken back to the halls of what is now the old Blackburg Middle School, so unsure of my eighth grade self in my Converse All-Stars, Levis, thin hair long and parted in the middle, glasses and braces. I looked up to the beautiful Mary Munford, a poised, confident senior girl with porcelain skin.

In the lives of eighth grade girls, senior girls are movie stars.

I got tears in my eyes when we met at Beaux Arts Galleria.  She was her same lovely, enchanting self.

And the photo shows that the stage for our meeting was movie-star perfect, amidst stunning museum-quality home furnishings and decor in the historic district of Blacksburg, Virginia. 

Let's just say that, in 1973, we didn't have that in Blacksburg.

In seeing Mary Munford Harder again, and still knowing her and being known by her, I felt as if something unaligned had been put back in place.

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Beaux Arts Galleria is hosting an Open House.  All are invited!

Beaux Arts Galleria Open House
Thursday, February 11, 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
R.s.v.p. 540-443-0003

Beaux Arts Galleria is located at 105 East Roanoke Street in Blacksburg, Virginia.  Here are directions.

Here's are the full details and invitation to the Beaux Arts Galleria Open House and more about the showroom from The Roanoke Times: Beaux Arts prepares for unveiling.

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Beaux Arts Galleria is a client of Handshake Media, Incorporated, the parent company of Handshake 2.0.