One of Rev. Witherspoon's distant descendants, Wardlaw Witherspoon and his wife Virginia, of New Orleans, to take a special interest in Beith and to make a visit there In November 2000

"Wardlaw and I had an overwhelming experience in Beith. Kenneth McKelvie had Robert McCallum picked us up at our flat in Glasgow on Tuesday, November 8th. We traveled for 24 hours from New Orleans to Glasgow the day before because of the floods. We received a warm reception from the members of the North Ayrshire Council, the Marketing Officer of Paisley University, and the Mayor at the site of the Witherspoon House and the surrounding historic buildings. There was a photographer there to take our picture and someone from the radio who interviewed Wardlaw. They were most interested in the fact that Wardlaw is in the restoration field in New Orleans.

As you know, the project has not started but they explained what their plans were and how the project was funded. It was most exciting to be there and see Rev. Witherspoon's house and church. To have pictures of Wardlaw and I standing in front of his house and church is unbelievable. I asked if we could go inside and Robert gave us some hard hats and took us through some of the buildings. We were amazed at the wood, wrought iron, and decorative plaster inside. They plan to restore it as it was. Robert gave us a piece of decorative plaster to take home. I managed to get it home in one piece and plan to have it framed. What a treasure!

We had a wonderful lunch in the private library at Montgreenan Mansion, and we were presented us with a copy of the plans for the Beith Townscape Heritage Initiative by the North Ayrshire Council. We were honored. We took pictures of the hotel and the highland cow across the street.

Robert knew the sculptor , Sandy Stoddart, who was making the statue of Rev. John Witherspoon and he made arrangements for us to visit his studio. The statue is magnificent and so life like. I told Sandy that he looks just like he did on the postal stamp of him which was on a postcard many years ago. When we showed him a picture of him, he was so pleased that he did look the same. Sandy is so talented. We are very fortunate that he took such a tremendous interest in this project.

I told Sandy that Wardlaw and I had been to Princeton last year and we were told that there was a video made when a group from Scotland came for a visit. He told me that he had a copy and invited us to his home for tea and to watch the video. It was so much fun to see his home. He bought the home that he grew up in from his parents. The video is wonderful. Part of it was at Princeton and the rest of it was the stages of creating the statue.

Needless to say, our day in Beith was the highlight of our trip . It is a day that we will never forget.

All of the people we met in Beith are planning to go to Princeton for the unveiling of the statue. They told us that it would be sometime next fall. We told them that we would plan to be there also. It will be more meaningful to be in attendance now.