Linda Dodge Weiser: Engraved in brick, a salute to ‘Friends of The Carson City Library’

Today’s libraries are vital centers of a community. They serve all equally and they provide opportunities for youth and for seniors from all walks of life and economic status. Our community libraries loan a broad variety of items, from traditional books to e-books and from laptops to fishing poles. They offer everything from cooking lessons to free assistance with tax preparation and from language courses to classes helping to prepare folks to enter or re-enter the work force. Sometimes they are havens from horrific conditions, and often they are doorways to a better life.

A brick will be engraved and entered into the walkway of a new library being built in Annapolis, Maryland (I’ll get back to this).

The newest Anne Arundel County library branch, when completed in May 2020, will be one of the most technologically advanced public community libraries in America. Also, it will be in one of the most historic cities in America — a few blocks from the Maryland Statehouse where George Washington resigned his commission as commander in chief of the Continental Army on Dec. 23, 1783.

The building and all that it will contain was made possible through a vast community of volunteers, donors, the Anne Arundel County Public Library Foundation, and impassioned voices which successfully impressed and empowered elected officials to increase traditional funding and to identify unique collaborative opportunities to make this building a reality. https://www.aacpl.net/foundation.

So, why am I writing to you, the citizens of Carson City, about this library in Maryland, and what about that brick? My sister-in-law Phyllis (Weiser) Patton (“Mickey” to her family due to her love of baseball, and yes, Mickey Mantle), a long-time resident of Carson City and former president of The Friends of The Carson City Library, is one of the most impassioned supporters of libraries I have ever known. She and her husband Phillip, (an early convert), shared this passion and adventures of supporting the Carson City Library with us at every opportunity.

As a result, I have become immersed in a variety of Anne Arundel County Public Library Foundation committees and events. It is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done.

I thank Phyllis (Mickey) for helping me find that passion. Carson City and the Carson City Library are very fortunate to have had the Phyllis & Phillip Patton team. The brick (we are limited to 15 spaces and 3 lines) will read:

Friends, Carson

City Library

P & P Patton

Public community libraries foster civility, serve humanity and preserve democracy. Please support your library, and say hello to Mickey for me.

Linda Dodge Weiser is a resident of Annapolis, Maryland.