As colleague and successor to the late Elizabeth S. Manion as director of the Marlboro Free Library (MFL), I was saddened to learn of her recent passing. “Libby,” as she was called by those of us lucky enough to see her on a daily basis, was a pillar of the Marlborough community. As her librarian and assistant director, she was my mentor. I knew her as a highly-principled individual, a brilliant administrator, and a consummate professional. Library patrons, staff, and trustees all bore witness to the determination and vigor of a compassionate and tireless public-spirited dynamo.

Libby’s foresight and innovative leadership shaped the MFL into one of the preeminent educational institutions in Ulster County, if not in the Hudson Valley. Her accomplishments are too many to list here (please read her obituary on Legacy.com), but those outcomes that benefited the community the most include: moving the library from private to sustainable public funding, envisioning and leading the construction of a “purpose-built” library building and its subsequent expansion, and pushing for the MFL to become one of the earliest fine-free libraries in the Mid-Hudson Library System.

When she hired me from a small upstate library, I asked her how it was that Marlborough could afford to build so large and modern a facility. She responded that you don’t ask your community what you can “afford”; you ask your community what kind of library they think they “deserve.” I once took a certification course in library administration taught by a former State Librarian and discovered that he remembered her from when she served with him on the state level. “If you work for Libby Manion,” he said, “I don’t know how much more I can teach you!”

As director I didn’t attend professional workshops to learn how to run a Friends of the Library group, or create a Local History section, or publish a library newsletter, or many of the other initiatives my colleagues flocked to, because Libby had already established them for Marlboro. She often was the first to arrive at work in the morning and the last to leave at night. After an administrative success, the fictional President Bartlett of the TV program “West Wing”, rather than relax and reflect would instead ask of staff, “What’s next?” That was Libby.

Upon her retirement, I asked her where in her home she would put all of the awards, medals, certificates, and other accolades she earned over the years. She told me she had already disposed of them all! A deeply modest person, she demurred from staff throwing her a grand retirement party. And I can honestly say she would be uncomfortable with this letter. For someone who never blew her own horn, I’m saddened by the occasion, but happy to praise her and speak of her legacy in this public forum. On behalf of the Board, staff, and Friends of the MFL, I share with you a brief glimpse into the character of a remarkable woman fondly loved and remembered not just for what she did, but for who she was.