Those who know Bethia Owens will surely find it hard to imagine her retirement the way she anticipates her golden years. While she’s surely earned the enjoyable pursuits and fulfillment of leisure-filled years of later life after devoting 42 years to the Eastern Oklahoma Library System — the last 22 as shared branch manager for Sallisaw’s Stanley Tubbs Memorial Library as well as the Muldrow Public Library — it’s almost impossible to imagine the libraries and the communities without Owens at their center.
But Owens did her best to visualize her future when she was the guest of honor for her retirement reception last Tuesday at the Sallisaw library.
“As I step into retirement, I’m not saying good-bye to the library. I’ll still be here. Maybe not behind the desk — absolutely not behind the desk — but in the quiet corners with a good book, at story hour with my great-grandchild or stopping by one of the wonderful events that will continue long after I’ve turned in my keys, which I’ve already done,” she told a standing-room-only gathering of well-wishers who crowded into the newly christened Bethia Owens Meeting Room.
Then she added longingly, “Maybe I will finally get to have my name on the sign-up sheet for ‘Paint with Linda’.”
To be sure, Owens’ name on a sign-up sheet would merely be a passing footnote to her “indelible impact on generations of readers, learners and families in our community,” as Sallisaw Mayor Ernie Martens said as he read a city proclamation designating Tuesday as Bethia Owens Day in Sallisaw “in heartfelt recognition of a lifetime of exceptional service and in honor of the countless contributions she has made to our
Bethia Owens (left) talks with Bonnie Rogers, president of Muldrow’s Friends of the Library, during Owens’ retirement celebration
Bethia Owens addresses the crowd, reflecting on her 22-year career at the Sallisaw library.
LYNN ADAMS COURTESY community.”
Indeed, it was not only a day to bid farewell to Owens, but also a time for superlatives honoring her career.
• “She’s an institution for the towns and the communities” — Kathy Seibold, executive director for Eastern Oklahoma Library System
• “It’s not going to do your decades of service justice” — Sallisaw City Manager Brian Heverly apologized in dedicating the meeting room in her name
• “Owens has done what no one expected — proven that one person can make an odd arrangement into a benefit for all involved” — REGISTER publisher Jeff Mayo, quoting thendistrict library director Marilyn Hinshaw in May 2002 when Owens was named Sallisaw branch manager But it was Carrol Copeland, president of the Friends of the Library, who facetiously put into perspective Owens’ indefatigable journey in her hometown when he postulated that when Owens started with the EOLS, child labor laws must have been circumvented, because she was only 10 years old when she started her 42-year career. She was particularly appreciative of the biased math.
Saying good-bye
“It is with both gratitude and humility that I stand here today,” Owens told those on hand for her retirement reception. “When I first walked into this library 22 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined this journey. I thought I was simply filling in ’til you could find someone else. But what I found was a community that needed me, and a third family I needed.
“This library is often described as the heart of the community, and I have had the pleasure of witnessing this truth every single day. I shelved thousands of books. I helped countless students with last-minute research papers, introduced children to their very first stories, shared quiet conversations with neighbors who just wanted someone to listen. I interviewed famous football players and coaches. I’ve talked to people who’ve served in every war. I listened to stories about memories [from] mothers and grandmothers, who always wore an apron (I think that was my first program here, was aprons). I tried to help college students connect with the community physical and mental health needs and careers for veterinarians. I helped the genealogy detectives. I cooked lunch and shared books about Oklahoma authors and stories about Oklahoma. I watched little ones grow up, teens discover passion and adults return to learning,” she said.
“This library is more than bricks and shelves. It has been a gathering place, a classroom, a safe haven and, sometimes, a sanctuary. Together we’ve moved from card catalogs to computers, from printouts to digital databases. And yet through all the changes, the heart of the library has remained the same: Connecting people to knowledge, to imagination and, most importantly, to each other.
“Over the years, I’ve had the honor of working with extraordinary colleagues here and at EODLS, and with dedicated city and county leaders who have supported our mission. Together we have embraced new technology, expanded programs and preserved traditions. But above all, we have strived to ensure that the doors of this library are open to everyone, including becoming handicapped accessible.
“But the greatest privilege has been serving you, our community. You’ve trusted me to help you find the right book, plan your programs, your vacations, preserve your histories and sometimes just to share a smile on a hard day,” Owens said. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making these 22 years meaningful, and thank you for letting me be a part of your lives and having you be such an important part of mine.”
Seibold took the opportunity to point out that “it’s amazing to watchbothMuldrowand Sallisaw and the amount of support that Bethia has in the communities. It is not equalled in any other area.”
The EOLS executive director also praised Owens for “the way that she has both of these libraries working together in efficient ways and making sure that staff members are put first and patrons are put first and she is put last. You all put her first, and you are putting her first today, and I think it is awesome to see.”
Seibold also announced that EOLS will provide new window coverings, new paint and new flooring for the newly dedicated meeting room, remodeling that will complement the long-desired new chairs that were used for the first time at the retirement reception. The library had previously added a digital sign, new tables, ADA-compliant doors and a new roof, and surveillance cameras were to be installed inside and outside on Wednesday.
Seibold noted that succession planning has been underway for the past year in preparation for Owens’ retirement, “so I know that we’re going to have a really smooth transition as you welcome in Julie [Klineline] as the new branch manager.”
Tons of tributes
The hour-long retirement celebration also included tributes from a wide cross section of the community: Sallisaw Mayor Ernie Martens, Sallisaw City Manager Brian Heverly, REGISTER publisher Jeff Mayo, Cherokee Nation District 6 Tribal Councilor Daryl Legg, Cherokee Nation Entertainment general manager and J&D Steakhouse owner Chad McReynolds, and Sallisaw Chamber of Commerce executive director Marty Green.
In declaring last Tuesday as Bethia Owens Day, Martens read aloud a proclamation that bore his signature.
Heverly then dedicated the meeting room in Owens’ honor, but qualified that such a designation “is not going to do your work justice. It’s not going to do your decades of service justice, not only to ourselves, but to the city of Muldrow.”
Mayo then shared that he had conducted a search of newspaper archives to find how many times Owens had been mentioned in Sequoyah County newspapers.
“She’s in there over 1,300 times,” he told Owens.
McReynolds added that his “mother was a reading specialist here for 40 years, so when I think of your service here at the library, they just go hand in hand.”
The baton is passed
Klineline was with the Fort Smith Public Library prior to coming to Sallisaw, and recalled how she met Owens.
“I met Bethia sometime around 1998. I was the circulation supervisor at the Fort Smith Public Library, and Bethia was a library cardholder. She was a library cardholder with a problem: She had a lost book,” Klineline recalled. “I was the one who had to say, ‘I am so sorry. I can’t check out your books because of that lost book.’ Now had I known that in a year I would move to Sallisaw and ask Bethia for a job … I would have still made you pay for that book.”
Klineline then recalled events and escapades that occurred while Owens was at the library.
“During that time, there have been animals chased down Cherokee Avenue, specifically a goat and a chicken that escaped from a summer reading program event, two different events,” Klineline said.
“Bethia has cooked at her own house — I can’t tell you how many meals — and brought them down to this meeting room to serve them for book review luncheons and other events.
“The most memorable event was for the celebration of the 75th anniversary of John Steinbeck’s book, ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’ Bethia invited so many county residents to come here to the library. This meeting room was filled, and we had people sitting at tables all the way to the other end of the library eating Bethia’s cornbread and beans that she cooked. And they were sharing their Dust Bowl memories that were recorded by the OSU oral history project, and video from that event was later put into a film that was shown at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, Calif. It was a great event. We did it in less than a month. That is typical — we will find out at the last minute that we’ve got to do something. We’re not sure we can do it, but somehow Bethia always convinces us that we can,” Klineline remembered.
“She’s worked with the Sallisaw alumni and former coaches to create and preserve the history of football in Sallisaw. If you’re interested in looking at it, go to our library webpage and look for the ‘Sallisaw Football and Founders.’ It has interviews and it has wonderful pictures from the history of Sallisaw.”
Klineline then said Owens has successfully applied for numerous grants that have resulted in programs for all ages in the community “to teach health literacy, provide STEM classes for teenagers, provide exercise programs in the community for our elder citizens, and a walking program to encourage healthy movement for all ages.”
The Sallisaw reception, which attracted about 40 well-wishers, was the second retirement celebration for Owens. Muldrow hosted a reception last Sunday that attracted more than 80 patrons and friends.
