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Library bids farewell to valued volunteer

By Shawn Linenberger - | Oct 21, 2005

Things have been a bit different these days at the Tonganoxie Public Library.

Betty Nelson, who volunteered at the library for the past five years, moved in July to Iola to live with one of her sons.

So in late June, she ended her long run of aiding the library when the staff needed a helping hand.

“I hated to give it up,” Nelson said. “They were nice to work with. Really nice.”

Library director Sharon Moreland said she was sad to see Nelson leave.

Moreland used one word to describe how library officials feel about Nelson’s departure.

“Lonely,” Moreland said. “We miss her so much.”

Nelson volunteered for the library on Thursday afternoons and all day on Fridays.

And, Moreland said, Nelson worked an occasional Saturday also.

As a volunteer, Nelson covered hard-back books with plastic and paperbacks with contact paper. She also handled overdue books, Moreland said.

Before Nelson was a volunteer, she served on the library board for eight years when the library was situated in the current police department, at the corner of Fourth and Delaware.

During retirement, she stayed involved with the library.

“I wanted to do something for the city because everyone had been so nice to me,” Nelson said.

Before leaving for Iola in July, Nelson was a longtime Tonganoxie resident. She lived in Tonganoxie since 1958, so she has many memories of the community.

“I missed the people I worked with as much as anything else,” Nelson said. “They were so nice to me. They were so good and I thought they were doing a really good job at the library.”