June Knudson honored as 'spirit of the library'

By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor

The chief friend of the library received a loving tribute Wednesday and June Knudson gave a few garlands herself.

“The spirit and inspiration of the Hood River County Library for the past 35 years,” as Glenn Harris called her, accepted thanks for her long stint as library director. About 150 people gathered for the Friends of the Hood River County Library annual holiday potluck at Hood River Valley Adult Center.

Harris, the outgoing Friends president, (Pat Byrne succeeds him in 2011) said he learned many things from Knudson about library operations and budgeting, and that “June always went above and beyond the call of duty.”

Harris and others spoke of how Knudson guided the county library system into the computer age, worked to increase the level of services provided by the library, and took a strong lead in the renovation of the library in 2001 and its expansion in 2006.

Michael Schock, president of the County Library Foundation, said, “I could always come to June for answers.

“She probably knew the name of every library card holder in the Hood River County Library system.”

Knudson thanked the community for its support of the library and said that many people speak of the beauty of the building, and its dramatic views of the city and Columbia River, but that it is the people and not the structure that always defined the library for her.

“We were lucky to have that view but if I had to choose one thing about the library it is my staff,” she said. “I’d run a library in a Quonset hut with that staff,” she said. She listed them all by name and called those present to join her in front of the FOL gathering.

State Librarian Jim Scheppke  said Knudson has been “a wonderful colleague and a great leader in this county and the whole state.” He cited her term as Oregon Library Association executive board president, among other works. Scheppke read a proclamation from the Association (see page A6).

Knudson retired in June when the library was closed for budgetary reasons.

Schock said, “June’s experience and passion will be hard to replace. But they’ll know what they want because they’ve already seen it.”

Knudson is the only county employee in 2010 with 35 years of service, according to Dave Meriwether, county administrator, who praised Knudson for her “many years of professional dedication to the citizens of Hood River County” and presented her with a glass plaque for her years of service.

Meriwether told the Friends, “I appreciate all the things all you folks have done,” he said, referring to the volunteer hours by the Friends and to their support of the successful library levy on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Sara Duckwall Snyder, the president of the newly-elected Library District board, thanked the FOL, saying, “We look forward to working with the Friends and appreciate your support and dedication.”

Knudson was also recognized for her leadership in the state Oregon Reads Project and the State Sesquicentennial celebration, and, locally, for her active involvement in Toastmasters and Soroptimist International. She is a past winner of the Soroptimist Women of Distinction award. It was her work with Toastmasters that led to her taking the lead in forming the FOL.

As the library enters a new, scaled-back phase after a long-term closure, Knudson spoke movingly about its value to individual members of the community. She said that after the library was closed in June 2010, she heard from a young man who told her he frequently used the facility while growing up in Hood River.

“He told me, ‘the library saved my life’,” Knudson said. “When he was a teenager and he needed a place to walk away from the things that were happening in his life, he would go to the library. I think we need to remember this story of a young person who said the library saved his life.”

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The Foundation met Wednesday before the FOL gathering, and hammered out details on a plan, with the district board, to reopen the library on a two-day-per-week schedule starting in July.

The Foundation and FOL have pledged money toward the $125,000 needed. That budget will be augmented by grants but must also be infused with community donations, according to Schock.