Carolyn Williams posing for her portrait
With BEST Dillon’s theme of Moving Forward Together, who could be better to fill in the mural’s train driver seat than Triangle Transit bus driver Carolyn Williams? From the beginning, BEST’s vision was to express community through a wide range of artists and volunteers, as well as the subjects pictured in the design, culminating in portraits of local residents and businesses whose contributions have made the mural a reality.
At the top of that donor list is Triangle Transit, who provided the enormous stretch of vacant warehouse space as a canvas for the 200 foot mural on the facade of the Dillon Supply Company building at 216 S. West Street. Asked who should represent them on the mural, the board quickly reached consensus. It was the bus drivers who were the real face of Triangle Transit. When supervisor Tammy Romain put the names of bus drivers into a hat, Carolyn Williams was the name she pulled.
After serving as a bus driver and dispatcher for nearly a decade, Carolyn serves as a perfect model for the dedication and experience it takes to provide safe and dependable transportation for the hundreds who ride her bus each day.
Angela Zappala paints Carolyn Williams’ portrait, joined by Nola Johnson, Donna Belt and Patrick Shanahan.
Carolyn’s portrait in the driver’s seat of the BEST train will soon be finished. She looks forward to bringing her twelve year old son, Kamozie and her mother down to the Warehouse District to view herself as BEST artist Angela Zappala has captured her. Asked what she sees for her future, Carolyn doesn’t have to think twice. She’d like to be a train driver. We picture that for her too.