She came to mind again as I read a story in Saturday's Columbus Dispatch: Carol Sue Snowden, known to me before then only as the Librarian, died in January of ovarian cancer. The article was generally focused on a gift that she left in death: more than one million dollars to the public library where she worked for thirty years and to seven schools where she read. The generous gifts were made possible by the economy that she practiced in her life, a good lesson for many whose daily spending deprives them of living comfortably.

Naturally because of my experience with her, I was inclined to reflect on another great gift that she gave. By all accounts she loved books; undoubtedly she understood that reading could affect people in profound ways, opening opportunities for them that simply would not otherwise exist. She came to share her time and her love of books with my classmates and me, as she did to many classes over a period of decades. That's a lot of people to help. I am very grateful to have been one of them.