WHATCOM — As part of its recent 75th anniversary celebration, the Whatcom County Library System selected 75 Library Champions (or groups of them) who made significant contributions to the library system across the years.
These organizations and individuals were honored at a Nov. 9 event in the Pioneer Pavilion Community Center of Ferndale. Read full profiles of the Champions in the commemorative program online at wcls.org/75.
At the event, WCLS executive director Christine Perkins recognized the Champions for “their passion, their dedication to libraries, their hard work, and their perseverance.”
FOUNDERS
- Initial WCLS Board of Trustees: Grace Allen Hunt of Nooksack, Mina Morsman of Ferndale, and Clarence A. Axelson, Gordon McConnell, and Mabel Smith of Bellingham
- Miss Linda Hellyer, WCLS’s first director
- Founding Board of the Whatcom County Library Foundation: Candice Ambrosio, Bill Backer, Neal Bittner, Sigrid Brorson, Bruce Burpee, Florie Cox, Randy Erickson, Jan Hunter and Dori O’Brien
LEADERS
- Joan Airoldi, former WCLS director
- John Halliday, former WCLS director
- Georgia Donovan, former WCLF chair
- Frances Barbagallo, former manager, Deming Library
- Nina Cox, former WCLS trustee and president of the Friends of the Ferndale Library
- Marvin Waschke, WCLS Board of Trustees chair
- Polly Hanson, former WCLS director
- Fran Protzeller, former WCLS trustee and president of the Friends of the Lynden Library
- Georgina Furlong-Head, former manager, North Fork Community Library
- Henry Matter, former trustee
- Amory Peck, former trustee and member of WCLF board
BUILDERS
- Deming Library: Robroy Graham, Paul Moceri and Jim Mushak
- Ferndale Library: Norine Amend
- Island Library: Joan Keiper and Diane Harper
- North Fork Community Library: Cindy Pfeiffer-Hoyt, Scott Swanson, Vern Yadon, Nori Zukerman and Georgina Furlong-Head
- Point Roberts Library: Mark Robbins, Stephen Falk, Bennett Blaustein, Judy Ross and Ed Park
- South Whatcom Library: Bob Cooper, David Hamilton and Bob Bryant
PATRIOTS
- Defenders of Intellectual Freedom: WCLS staff member Georgina Furlong-Head, attorney Deborra Garrett, former WCLS Director Joan Airoldi, WCLS Board of Trustees Chair Amory Peck, and Trustees Janet Boyhan, Nina Cox, Donna Lee Elke and Janneth Hunter
PARTNERS
- Richard and Melanie May, Blaine Library and WCLS advocates
- Sher Ross, Mount Baker School District
- Melissa Menti, Mount Baker School District
- Clint McBeath, former Everson mayor
- Dick Powell, Everson Library expansion
- Ken Warfel, Ferndale Library’s Ferndale Poetry Festival
- Arthur J. Henken, former Lynden city councilman and Lynden Library advocate
- Jack Louws, former Lynden city councilman, Lynden mayor and Whatcom County executive
- Margaret Bikman, journalist and librarian
- Suzanne Harris, teacher, Whatcom County Juvenile Detention Center Book Club
- Linda Lambert, former director, Whatcom Community College library
- Chuck and Dee Robinson, Village Books founders
- Keith Willnauer, Whatcom County assessor
- Bellingham Public Library
- Washington State Library Commission
- Whatcom Community Foundation
FRIENDS
- Louise Granger, Friends of the Deming Library board member and Deming Library advocate
- Ellen and Karl Thompson, former WCLS staff member and Deming Library volunteers
- Gretchen Hoyt, Friends of Everson Library board member
- Judy Kelsey, Friends of the Ferndale Library treasurer
- Buff Lapof, Friends of the Island Library secretary
- Arlene Carlson, Friends of the Lynden Library volunteer
- Florie Cox, WCLF and Friends of the Lynden Library
- Serena and Bob Haugen, Friends of the Lynden Library
- Meg Krieg, Friends of the Sumas Library president
DONORS
- Book Endowment Founders (in honor of Audrey Liller), Andrea Bevan, Bernice Vossbeck, Serena Haugen, Thelma Groh, Nima Isner, Polly Hanson, Carmela Wilkins, Kathleen Copenhaven, Doris Elliott and Dorothy Shirley
- Fred D. and Evelyn Nowicke, Everson Library
- $1 million anonymous donor, Ferndale Library
- Judy Ross and Ed Park, Point Roberts Library
- Ramona Villani, former WCLS trustee and board chair
- Norcliffe Foundation
- Ziad Youssef, attorney
- Robert Bates and Kathy Veterane, WCLF donors
STAFF
- Robin Barker, former collection services manager
- Jeanette Beck, former technical services manager
- Sigrid Brorson, former assistant director
- Aubri Keleman, WCLS’s first teen services librarian
- Catherine Sarette, former children’s department lead
- Brea Sherron, first Youth Services intern
- Barbara Skinner, former manager, Everson Library
- Dianne Marrs-Smith, Lynden Library manager, president of the Friends of the Birch Bay Library, and president of AFSCME Local #1581 (staff labor union)
- Sue Tommervik, former manager, Lynden Library
- Tina Bixby, creator of WCLS’s El Día de los Niños/El Día de los Libros program
- Penny Leenders, former manager, Sumas Library
Source: Library system names its many Champions | Community | lyndentribune.com