Some people go a whole lifetime known by a single name, vocation or deed. Not so for Talladega’s Robert Weaver.

He is known as the city’s historian, always offering a story behind the person or the event. Before there was Google, there was Robert Weaver.

He is known as the shoe man because of his ownership of a shoe store downtown.

Around the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind campus, he’s known as “the ice cream man” because of the untold gallons of ice cream he has served to AIDB children. He has the same moniker at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center because of the thousands of scoops he has served up over the years for campers.

But, to borrow a phrase from AIDB President Terry Graham, he is known to all as “a good man,” pure and simple.

There are plenty of reasons behind the title. He founded a ministry for deaf children. He was the catalyst that helped build Hawkins Chapel on the AIDB campus, created Camp Shocco for the Deaf, and his volunteerism in myriad events for youths and for the city is legendary.

He designed and worked to locate a monument on the courthouse lawn dedicated to the USS Talladega, which served in three wars and transported four Marines to Iwo Jima, who were in the famous flag raising.

The list of his accomplishments is long and impressive because the story behind each is one of a man who cares about service to his community, his fellow man and to his faith.

On Friday, he added yet one more to the list: The dedication of the Robert C. Weaver Chapel at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center.

Nestled in the natural beauty of the Adventure Camp at Shocco now stands a monument to Weaver’s faith and his ability to get good things done.

The chapel was Weaver’s dream – a shelter, a haven for worship and special programs at the camp. And he contributed the funds to build it and helped bring in volunteers from across the Southeast to shoulder the work.

It will stand as a legacy to the man who has always dreamed big and made good things happen wherever he went. The chapel that bears his name is simply another testament to Talladega’s good and faithful servant.