Face to Face: Tonganoxie Public Library’s Liz Wilson
Name: Liz Wilson
Born: Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Family: Two boys, Dylan Douglas, Tonganoxie High School sophomore, and Kaden Douglas, Tonganoxie Elementary School fifth-grader.
Occupation: Librarian aide.
Dream job as a child: Wilson wanted to be an FBI agent after watching Jody Foster in “Silence of the Lambs.”
“I still have the dream of being an agent,” she said. “I think It has changed over time to more of a CIA agent.
I have always thought it would be fascinating to live a double life and to change your life to suit the mission I feel like you would never be bored in life. Maybe I watch and read to many movies and books.”
She said she thinks that’s why she loves working at the library and patrons enjoy visiting: they can check out a book or movie and can lose themselves in that moment and become somebody else for a few hours each day.
Interesting fact: Wilson went to the University of Missouri for two years against her will, but her parents wouldn’t pay for out-of-state tuition for her to attend the University of Kansas.
“Don’t tell any of my MU classmates because I was and still am a KU fan for life,” Wilson said.
Digging deeper: She went to Emporia State University after MU where she earned a bachelor’s in accounting.
She then lived in New York for 10 years and misses all the fast-paced aspects of The Little Apple. She moved to Kansas to be closer to her mother before she died and found Tonganoxie on the advice of a friend. The family has lived here for eight years now.
It took some adjustments living in the smaller town, but Wilson said she’s appreciated living here and watching Dylan play soccer, something that likely wouldn’t have happened in New York.
“I have enjoyed watching my children grow up here, something I would have not had the time or pleasure to do if I stayed in New York working,” she said.
And, she appreciates getting to help others at the library.
“I still love accounting but numbers just don’t quite give you that satisfaction like watching the children light up as they read a book to a therapy dog,” she said.