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ARMA —
After 16 years as Arma City Library director, Christie Wilson is stepping down.
“I mostly wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and I do medical transcriptions at home,” Wilson said.
She and husband Jerry have two daughters, Emily, 13, and Abigail, who will soon celebrate her third birthday. The family lives in Liberal, Mo.
Wilson was working for Oxford Medical when her husband pointed out a newspaper ad seeking a librarian for the Arma library.
“I’ve always loved to read,” Wilson said, “but I wasn’t going to apply for the job. My husband and my mother pushed me, and I’m glad they did.”
The library had opened in November of 1993, according to Kathy Anselmi, one of the founders.
“Alpha Kappa Chapter, Phi Tau Omega sorority, got the library started,” Anselmi said.
Staff at the Southeast Kansas Library System, based in Iola, gave them the ground rules for organizing a library.
“We got the ball rolling, and it just kind of went on from there,” Anselmi said.
The library was first located at 501 N. West, but had its grand opening at its current location, 508 E. Washington, in July of 2004.
“We had volunteers who staffed the library, and board members helped,” Anselmi said. “Mildred Hunter was the first volunteer librarian. Christie was the library’s first paid employee.”
Wilson added that for a long time, she was the only paid employee, until Brenda Banks came along.
“This was a one-person library, but now we really need more than one person,” she said.
“At first I worked one day a week, then two days a week,” Banks said.
Now she will step into the director’s position, and librarian will be Terry Matt, who had worked at the library as part of the SER program, which is focused on the training and employment needs of mature workers. Participants receive training by working at non-profit organizations or government agencies.
“Terry became so invaluable to us that we had to hire her,” Wilson said.
She said that she has enjoyed her time at the library, and has no intention of turning her back on it.
“I’m hoping they’ll call me when they need somebody to fill in for vacations or sick days, or they want help with the summer program,” Wilson said. “I’ll volunteer here, and maybe, when my youngest daughter is older, I may want to come back and work part-time.”
At the very least, she’ll want to come back to check out books.
“My husband says we’ve saved a ton of money on buying books since I’ve worked here,” Wilson said.
A farewell open house in her honor will be held from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the library.
After 16 years as Arma City Library director, Christie Wilson is stepping down.
“I mostly wanted to be a stay-at-home mom and I do medical transcriptions at home,” Wilson said.
She and husband Jerry have two daughters, Emily, 13, and Abigail, who will soon celebrate her third birthday. The family lives in Liberal, Mo.
Wilson was working for Oxford Medical when her husband pointed out a newspaper ad seeking a librarian for the Arma library.
“I’ve always loved to read,” Wilson said, “but I wasn’t going to apply for the job. My husband and my mother pushed me, and I’m glad they did.”
The library had opened in November of 1993, according to Kathy Anselmi, one of the founders.
“Alpha Kappa Chapter, Phi Tau Omega sorority, got the library started,” Anselmi said.
Staff at the Southeast Kansas Library System, based in Iola, gave them the ground rules for organizing a library.
“We got the ball rolling, and it just kind of went on from there,” Anselmi said.
The library was first located at 501 N. West, but had its grand opening at its current location, 508 E. Washington, in July of 2004.
“We had volunteers who staffed the library, and board members helped,” Anselmi said. “Mildred Hunter was the first volunteer librarian. Christie was the library’s first paid employee.”
Wilson added that for a long time, she was the only paid employee, until Brenda Banks came along.
“This was a one-person library, but now we really need more than one person,” she said.
“At first I worked one day a week, then two days a week,” Banks said.
Now she will step into the director’s position, and librarian will be Terry Matt, who had worked at the library as part of the SER program, which is focused on the training and employment needs of mature workers. Participants receive training by working at non-profit organizations or government agencies.
“Terry became so invaluable to us that we had to hire her,” Wilson said.
She said that she has enjoyed her time at the library, and has no intention of turning her back on it.
“I’m hoping they’ll call me when they need somebody to fill in for vacations or sick days, or they want help with the summer program,” Wilson said. “I’ll volunteer here, and maybe, when my youngest daughter is older, I may want to come back and work part-time.”
At the very least, she’ll want to come back to check out books.
“My husband says we’ve saved a ton of money on buying books since I’ve worked here,” Wilson said.
A farewell open house in her honor will be held from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the library.
