[Libs-Or] Fwd: Women of Library History - Linda McPherson

[Diedre Conkling]

http://womenoflibraryhistory.tumblr.com/post/112696434599/linda-McPherson

Linda McPherson
<http://womenoflibraryhistory.tumblr.com/post/112696434599/linda-mcpherson>

*Today’s post comes from Asheley Bryson, who works at the Darrington branch
of the Sno-Isle library system. She writes, ” I plan on staying at this
lovely little library until I retire, just as Linda did.”*

Linda McPherson became the community librarian in the small town of
Darrington in 1987.  She was instrumental in creating the new location in
1990, and was putting the finishing touches on the building in 2008 with
the addition of a beautiful meeting room when she hired me.  I was the last
person that Linda hired, as she retired in January of 2011 after managing
the Darrington Library for almost 30 years.  Unbeknownst to me at the time,
she had opened the door to a close-knit community and welcomed an outsider
in.

Although most of the stories you may have read about Linda over the last
year have been about how she died, I wish to say a little about how she
lived.  Linda loved People, and not just the magazine that she would read
every day on her lunch break while sipping her Diet Coke.  She loved all
the generations, from the ones that raised her to the peers she grew up
with to the children she helped guide from early literacy all the way
through graduate school.  She never lost touch with her community.  She sat
alongside our patrons on sunny Saturday afternoons, creating beautiful
watercolor paintings in a library program that she had arranged.  She
helped teenagers apply for college loans and coached our unemployed patrons
through the frustrations of job hunting online.  Shortly before retiring,
you could find her rocking out to Guitar Hero alongside teenage boys in out
meeting room, often scoring higher than they would.  She served 17 years on
the Darrington School Board, including as president.  She hugged me when I
told her that I was expecting a child, exclaiming “A library baby!” and I
cried when she retired, knowing things would never be the same at our tiny,
mountain town branch.

She believed in work-life balance, and fostered passions of her own outside
of her dutiful work for the library and the community.  She was a talented
carpenter, a wonderful artist, and had many plans for adventures abroad.
She raised two kind and successful children, and she set an example for
countless others, myself included.  She showed me what it looked like to
embody the mission of our organization: to be a community doorway to
reading, resources, and lifelong learning, and a center for people, ideas,
and culture.  I will always be grateful to her for opening the door and
welcoming me into the world of libraries and the people who staff them.  My
tenure at the library has been the most rewarding, most enjoyable position
that I have held.  I plan to keep that door open for generations to come.


Information about submissions:
http://womenoflibraryhistory.tumblr.com/submit2015










-- 
*Diedre Conkling*




*Lincoln County Library DistrictP.O. Box 2027Newport, OR 97365Phone & Fax:
541-265-3066Work email**: **diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org*
<diedre at lincolncolibrarydist.org>
*Home email: **diedre08 at gmail.com* <diedre08 at gmail.com>

 “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change
your attitude.”―Maya Angelou
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