Being a Children’s Librarian was a second career, but one that Aunt Inez loved.  It ended far too soon.

 

Becoming A Librarian

Background

Inez Linda Pellett, my namesake, was the oldest daughter of Clifford Claney and Dessie May (Thomas) Pellett.  She was born near Moundville, Missouri on April 8, 1928.  A couple of years later, the family moved to Redfield, Kansas before settling down near Garland, Kansas.

While she was still going to grammar school, her father ended up in a veteran’s hospital hundreds of miles away.  Still, her mother managed to send all the kids to high school.

 

First Career

Inez’s first job after completing high school a semester early was at the business that became the Western Casualty and Surety Company & The Western Fire Insurance Company (The Western Insurance Companies).  The company was known locally simply as “The Western.”  She started working in February 1946 while also taking a full course load at Fort Scott Junior College (FSJC, now Fort Scott Community College [FSCC]).  She was only 17 at the time.

She completed her course work at FSJC, taking a mix of general classes and business office classes.  She had eight credit hours of shorthand and she was really good at it.  When she was working at the library, she still wrote notes in shorthand.  I wasn’t sure if she wanted to keep up her skill level, if it was just natural after 25 years in a office, or if it was her way of keeping her notes private as most people didn’t know shorthand.

When Inez completed 25 years with The Western, she retired.  She was only 42.  Inez took a year off work.  When she was ready to go back to work, she chose a field which was a bit less stressful than supervising the issuance of payroll checks for a large company.  The company had approximately $226,000,000 in premiums per year, which with inflation would be nearly a billion dollars  today.  She traded that for being the “assistant librarian” at Fort Scott Public Library.

 

Love of Children

Although Inez’s official title was Assistant Librarian, her primary role was working in the children’s library.  I couldn’t think of anyone better for this role.  She loved children and children loved her.  They could sense her true intent to connect with them.  However, she had never married and had no children of her own.

So, she enjoyed other people’s children.  She loved Halloween as she loved interacting with each and every Trick or Treater.  It wasn’t simply a “Trick or Treat,” get candy, and be on your way.  Instead, each child that came to her home could expect to be invited in for a conversation about their costume.

The closest she had of children of her own were my sister and me.  We spent many Saturday nights at her house.  When I was five, she took me with her on a trip to California to see her brother and other relatives.  Both of us later went with her and Mom on another trip to California. Later, I went with her to Savannah, Georgia when the Greyhounds played in the Shrine Bowl for the National Championship. 

However, how close she was to me can be summed up with one story.  When I was a toddler, Mom and I (and possibly others) met up with her and had lunch downtown.  When she walked away to go back to the office, I started fussing and making a ruckus.  Mom figured that everyone on the street thought that my mom leaving to go back to work.  But, it was my mom holding me.  It was my buddy that was going back to work.

 

Library Work

Coming from a demanding, high stress job, Inez found the responsibilities of a small-town librarian to be easy.  Her day consisted of reviewing books, ordering books, prepping books for checkout, checking them out/in, taking in occasional fines, and other library tasks.

She enjoyed the work and did it with the utmost professionalism.  She kept the library well organized even with little hands pulling books out to see if they wanted to check them out. That said, she had an incredible talent of getting children to behave while they enjoyed the visit.  And, needless to say, she enjoyed each and every visit from a child.

 

The Lunch Break

Inez was quick with her work.  She was a fast typist and fast at taking shorthand.  Additionally, she was very fast on her feet.  I don’t know if that came from her childhood or if it was something that she became accustomed to in her previous job.  However, I know that as a child I had to run to keep up with her.  Inez had an hour lunch break and she would make the most of it.  Occasionally, she would walk from the library to Pizza Hut, eat their buffet lunch, and walk back to the library all within the hour.  It was 1.5 miles each way and Google estimates it will take a little over an hour for a person to walk there and back.  However, Inez made the walk AND ate lunch.  And, she walked it in heels!

 

Story Hour

One of the events of the week that Inez looked forward to was Story Hour.  When she started working at the library, Inez held one Story Hour a week for half a dozen preschool children.  Within a year, Story Hour had grown to three sessions per week with approximately 60 children attending each week.

Story Hour was held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.  It started with the children playing an age-appropriate game.  Once they settled down, Inez read them a book, making sure to show them the pictures and answer any questions.  She read many different books to them, but like all kids, they had their favorites.  Curious George and Dr. Seuss were among those most often requested.

Afterward, they checked in the books they had taken home the week before and checked out books for the coming week.  Afterward, they could talk quietly with their friends or sit and look at their books.

Inez went all out for her little readers (or maybe I should say listeners).  She would have treats for holidays including Valentine’s Day, Easter, and Christmas.  At Christmas, she made little gifts for each child.  One year she made toy soldiers out of clothes pins for all the children.  Another year, I remember helping her make little bear ornaments that the kids could put on their Christmas tree.  It also seems like she might have made some ghosts for Halloween and/or some angels for the kids.

She was amazing with the kids and did so much for them.  The kids adored her, and she was pretty popular with the older crowd, too.

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Reading

Each year there was a theme for the Summer Reading Program.  This is where I got into the act.  I am not sure what the exact theme was one year, but it must have been related to the Old West as I made a fort, steamboat, and stagecoach.  Each one was made out of cardboard and other household supplies.  They were large enough to be a significant display, but small enough that they could sit on top of the bookcases.

 

Filling In

When I was in college, I worked in the library on Saturdays and if I was available when either librarian was on vacation.  It was a great opportunity for me as I worked in both the Children’s Library and the adult library.  I learned a lot about research, which was useful in school and, of course, in genealogy.  On cold, snowy days, I had the opportunity to read local books that did not circulate.  The patrons were few and far between on those days and I didn’t usually have enough work to keep me busy all day.

 

The Side Job

As a side job Inez did work for the lawyers in town.  She typed up materials for them and did other tasks. She liked typing on the old manual typewriters and was quite fast on the keys.  Those “a’s” that were so hard for most people were a breeze for her

Although called to serve on a jury, Inez never had to serve.  She not only knew all the lawyers in town, but she worked for them.  So, you could say that she was denied her civic duty or you could look at it as a benefit of the job.

 

Her Illness

Inez had already started having health issues before she went to work at the library.  It was probably the reason behind her leaving the Western.  I vaguely remember her telling me that she had some issue, but she believed she wasn’t going to die from it.

She had always had cold feet.  When she put them against you, it was like you were touching an iceberg.  She also had a lot of pain in her feet and legs.  At the time, I assumed that it might have been from walking all those miles in high heels.  However, it seems that both the cold and pain came from her medical issues.

After Inez went to work at the library, she lost a lot of weight.  She craved ice and would request soda or orange juice be served poured over a glass full of ice.  She got a few calories from that.  However, she didn’t seem to be able to eat much food.  By May 1983, Inez became so weak that she was hospitalized at Mercy Hospital in Ft. Scott.  They transferred her to St. Luke’s in Kansas City, where she remained for some time. 

While at St. Luke’s, Inez got cards from people young and old.  Some cards came from a group of people and others were hand drawn or had extra art from a youngster.  Everyone was missing her presence in their life.

 

A letter from one of the older children.

A drawing one of the kids sent Inez while she was in the hospital.

From one of her young library patrons

It Ends Too Soon

Eventually, the doctors sent Inez back to the hospital in Ft. Scott.  I think it had become clear that they didn’t have a cure for her.  When she was released from the hospital, she went to stay with Mom and Dad.  She died September 24, 1983.  She was only 55.

Photos from the Library are from Inez Pellett’s personal collection.

Prompt: Library

#52ancestors52 weeks