We Pause to Remember

The Library Loses Some Of Its Own

Within a week, we’ve had two great benefactors and supporters of the library pass away. The whole staff have known them. I was friends with one since I began working there, ten years ago.

When a library is functioning properly within a community, these sort of losses should hurt, and indeed they do. The whole staff is affected because they weren’t just patrons, they were a sort of extended family. That happens with regulars. We see them enough. We understand what they like and what they don’t. We become invested.

And often times, they become invested in us. One of them in fact, asked that all donations be directed to the library - an extraordinary act of kindness.

Our hearts go out to the families of these folks, and in due time I’ll write about them personally. For now I’ll leave it be. Two of our own have left us. We’ll mourn at the library. And then we’ll go about the task of continuing to be the institution they hoped and fought so hard for us to become. We won’t let them down.