Myra Ilson (1927-2023) loved the Meekins Library. She arrived in 1975 as a volunteer working with the then Library Director Eleanor Hebert, and spent more than 40 years sharing her time and talent and bestowing her radiant smile on everyone who came into the Meekins. Myra thought of Meekins as her second home and all those who worked and volunteered there as her extended family. For all those years, she would walk down Village Hill from her home in former apple orchards across from the “new” cemetery, adding a hiking stick or two as the hill became more challenging.
Early on, Myra read stories to preschoolers and kindergarten students in the small spaces of the original granite library building. Myra and her husband, Bill Ilson, had worked as Peace Corps teachers in Jamaica, West Indies, in the early 1960s. By 1975, she had a young son and took joy in reading her beloved picture books to the youngest library visitors. She was helpful in developing the children’s room in the original building.
Eventually you would see Myra behind the old circulation desk at the library. But it was helping a child find a special book, that was her favorite thing to do. After the library renovation in 2003, Myra adopted the picture book room as her own, keeping the books shelved and in order and all the toys tidy. Diminutive in size, but not in might, Myra felt at home with the kid-sized bookshelves full of her favorite picture books and with all the kids that felt at home there too. Myra never tired of the time she spent with the children looking for books.
And Myra never tired of Meekins. After all, the Meekins held books by those poets and authors precious to her, and it had Sadie the resident library cat. Myra combined her love of cats with her love of books, naming her two ginger cats, Emily and Vinnie, after the poet Emily Dickinson and her sister Lavinia. Myra is part of so many staff and volunteer photographs over the years. She was always happy to be part of Meekins yearly festivities and celebrations. Myra’s devotion to the library will always be part of the Meekins story.
We remember Myra with gratitude and fondness. Do you have memories of Myra reading a story or helping you or your child find a book? Share them in the comments. Daria D’Arienzo, Meekins Archivist and Rochelle Wildfong, Meekins Children’s Librarian. #throwbackthursday
Posted to Facebook 3/16/2023
