The Walnut Cove Public Library is proud to announce our new children’s book memorial in honor of long-time Library Assistant Betty Lawing. Many library users may remember Mrs. Lawing when she worked at the library in the early 1990’s. She retired in June of 1996. People who knew her well describe her as someone who genuinely loved working with young children and this is how the idea of the children’s book memorial came to be. I met with Mrs. Lawing’s daughter, Brenda White to develop a fitting tribute to Betty. As a result, the children’s book memorial idea became a reality. What better way to honor part of our library family than to provide materials that can be used by many generations to come.

Through several generous donations, we were able to purchase numerous board books and chapter books for early readers. The board books will help small children develop strong reading skills as they prepare for their school years and the beginning chapter books will help readers in later grades make the transition from Easy books to the chapter books they will read in the upper Elementary grades and Middle School. We are very excited to have the opportunity to provide the complete Scholastic book series, Ready Freddy by Abbie Klein. Many of our young patrons enjoy these books about first grader, Freddy Thresher and his mischievous real-life adventures.

Thank you to the very generous people who made this memorial possible: Belews Creek Steam Station Operation Team C, Employees at the Stokes County Health Department, Barry and Donna Knight, Agnes and Al Heydinger, Christopher and Alyssa Spears, James Spears, Austin Spears, and Shantel Wiley.

Walnut Cove Public Library is very grateful for the loyal community who supports our growth and helps us meet the needs of those we serve. It is an honor that we are able to do a memorial in tribute to Mrs. Lawing’s love and dedication to children.

Christine Boles

Branch Librarian

Walnut Cove Public Library