Ernie Pyle’s home is now an Albuquerque Public Library. CM Highsmith, photographer. (2021) Retrieved from the Library of Congress
The Ernie Pyle Library is planning a free special observance of Ernie Pyle’s birthday. On Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, there will be Ernie Pyle Day festivities commemorating the beloved Pulitzer Prize winning author, who made his home in Albuquerque, from 10:30am to noon.
As part of the celebration, Veteran’s Memorial Park volunteer Ron Paneboeuf will give a presentation on Ernie Pyle’s Cartoonist, Bill Mauldin.
And if you can’t make the birthday party, who wouldn’t love a chance to read aloud to a registered therapy dog at the Ernie Pyle Library?
Read to a therapy dog
Children of all ages and reading levels can practice reading out loud without fear of judgment to the library’s registered therapy dog.
It’s a great way for children to gain confidence in their reading.
You can read to a therapy dog on Saturday, Aug. 13 and 27, 2022 from 11:30am to 12:30pm.
Who was Ernie Pyle? He was a reporter who traveled the world and covered World War II battles including D-Day. He moved on after the invasion to visit several units at the front before returning home.
The Ernie Pyle Library is a small white house with a white picket fence in the residential neighborhood at 900 Girard SE.
Organizers note that the Ernie Pyle Library is not ADA accessible because the historic building and grounds include steps, narrow passages, and small spaces.
The building was Ernie and “Jerry” Pyle’s 1,129 square foot home built in 1940. It is a National Historic Landmark and it is on the State, City and National registers of historic places
Why did Ernie Pyle and his wife “Jerry” choose Albuquerque?
Here are some things he said about living in Albuquerque:
“We like it because we have a country mailbox instead of a slot in the door. We like it because our front yard stretches are far as you can see, and because Mount Taylor, 65 miles away, is like a framed picture in our front window.
“…We have seen sunrises so violently beautiful they were almost frightening, and I’m only sorry I can’t capture the sunsets and the thunderstorms and the first snows on the Sandias, and take them East and flaunt them in people’s faces.
“We like it here because no more than half our friends who write us know how to spell Albuquerque.
“We like it here because we’re on top of the world, in a way; and because we are not stifled and smothered and hemmed in by buildings and trees and traffic and people. We like it because the sky is so bright and you can see so much of it. And because out here you actually see the clouds and the stars and the storms, instead of just reading about them in the newspapers. They become a genuine part of your daily life, and half the entire horizon is yours in one glance just for the looking, and the distance sort of gets into your soul and makes you feel that you too are big inside.”
~Ernie Pyle for New Mexico magazine, quoted in The Story of Ernie Pyle by Lee G. Miller, p. 157-15. (New York: Viking Press, 1950)
