Meet the Friends
Currently, more than forty Bainbridge Friends of the Library work together weekly to sort, price and sell donated books. They represent a remarkable collection of skills, professions and experience.
But Ken Fox best summed us up, “—the Friends are a cheerful group who share many of my interests and who work well together in a ‘non-bureaucratic’ atmosphere of cooperation and goodwill. We help the library, we help the community and we have fun doing it.”
Linda Meier
Born and raised in north-end Seattle, Linda taught for twelve years in the public schools and Seattle Community College, and owned and operated a business for twenty three years. Active in business organizations, she served as president of the Capitol Hill Business Association, the Diplomats of Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and vice president of Women’s Business Owners. She and her husband retired to Bainbridge in 2001, where she is “the family animal caretaker (cats, chickens, and peacocks), gardener, travel planner – book club member and fanatical reader.” In addition to time donated to the Friends, she also works with PAWS and Squeaky Wheels, “all of which,” says Linda” contribute to my love of books and getting to play and talk about them with the Friends.”
Elaine Moline
Elaine Moline has been a Friends’ volunteer for nineteen years, but she’s been here in the Northwest since 1945. She worked as bookkeeper and office administrator for a Seattle law firm, and managed the Law Review Course for students preparing to take the bar exam. Many of the lawyers Elaine worked with became judges or went into politics, and the highlight of her career came when she was sent to Washington DC to open the firm’s office there. Following her 1989 retirement, she continued to work as bookkeeper for a local contractor.
“Working with the Friends,” says Elaine, “in both senses of the word, all sharing the same interest in books and the library, has been a great pleasure. I know we all share much pride in the Friends’ accomplishments for the library.”
Eleanor Wheeler
Eleanor was already a familiar figure in the library many years before she began to cashier for the Friends’ sales. She began life in Baltimore, Maryland, and following her marriage to a career Army man, she moved often from one assignment to another. Retirement brought them at last to Bainbridge, and it was when her children were grown that she came to work at the Library where she especially enjoyed working in the Young Peoples’ section.
“I love cashiering at the book sales,” says Eleanor, “I get to visit with friends, and I am especially happy to see customers who have found books to treasure.”
Joyce Rudolph taught photography and worked in the film business on sixty films as a photographer until she retired recently. Her photographic skills have come in handy when dealing with the magazines. With her acute visual ability and judgment, she often finds magazines to set aside for our regular sales. Joyce is also an enthusiastic reader, and now she has more time to indulge her interest. About volunteering with the Friends, Joyce says, “I enjoy talking with librarians about books; what a wonderful group they are! I am really going to miss Sharon and Cindy. Regina Spoor and I work together, we have fun and learn something.”
Tilly Warren has worked and traveled world wide. While in London she was a producer and reporter for the BBC home and Overseas Services. Later, she was hired by The British Information Services to report and produce English and Foreign radio programs for overseas countries, with emphasis on the Middle East. On her return to the US, she was first employed by Stanford Research International in the Business Intelligence Program before leaving to join the British Consulate-General in San Francisco doing information and commercial work. In 1998,Tilly retired and in 2001, moved to Bainbridge where she volunteers, not only with the Friends, but also with the Senior Center.
In 2006 Peggy Spencer and her husband moved to Bainbridge from Vermont where they had lived “for years and years”. Both Spencers are professional musicians who taught and performed in the “very lively music scene in and around Brattleboro”. Peggy donates time to the Friends and to Helpline
Virginia Mackay
Ginny has been a FOL board member and a life-long opera fan. Like many of us here on the Island, she hails from the Great Middle, specifically, Nebraska. Ginny began her career in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she taught music in a public school. Adventure called, so she took a year off and headed for Alaska where she worked as an escrow officer and traveled throughout the state. When she returned to Lincoln, she became district coordinator for the Camp Fire Girls, and later, moved to Seattle in the same capacity. She was so successful that she was asked to relocate for a time to Hawaii to organize the Hawaiian branch of the Camp Fire Girls.
Liv Cartwright was born in Norway, and has loved books and languages since childhood. Her ambition and love for travel brought her to the US and Virginia for her senior year in High School. Later, while living in Nigeria, she met Glenn Cartwright, the man who would be her husband. She became a flight attendant with Pan Am, and later lived in five countries working at U. S. Embassies. She settled at last in Washington DC with her husband after he retired in 1994. Liv rightfully feels herself to be multi-cultural, and that she belongs everywhere and nowhere. She has many interests, to include books, needlework, ethnic music and “all things of vibrant colors”.
More Friends will be added soon.....