Goessel library celebrates legacy, brings community together

GOESSEL – Goessel Public Library opened their Elaine Schroeder Memorial Book Walk with a celebration. Saturday afternoon, library board members and volunteers hosted dozens of community members at the library to open the permanent book walk.

We haven’t had a celebration in a while, and we wanted to celebrate Elaine Schroeder and her life. Elaine was such a dominant member. She was on the library board for a while, served as a volunteer and was an employee for a very short period. She loved to read and loved the kids,” said Library Director Laura Dailey.

Library Board President Jennifer Chumbley said it was appropriate to honor Schroeder through the permanent story walk.

She was always dedicated to youth literacy and childhood literacy, being an English teacher for 20-some years at the high school,” she said.

Schroeder died this winter due to COVID-19, “I know she would have enjoyed this kind of thing,” said Dailey.

Dailey said the story walk is a way to connect the community, bridging together the library and Bethesda Home.

The elderly can see and participate with families in the story walks. It’s a healthy thing for all families to do. We haven’t had programming in over a year, and it’s a lot of fun to promote healthy lifestyles with walking and exercise and reading,” said Dailey.

With dozens of residents attending the afternoon, “I think it’s wonderful to see so many community members coming out to celebrate Elaine, the story walk, and support us in general. It is amazing the support the library gets from the community,” said Chumbley.

Dailey said the celebration is a step toward normal after over a year of no programming at the library.

We weren’t sure how comfortable people would be with the status quo, We thought this would be a great way to celebrate reading, and give people the option to do something other than just coming to the library,” said Chumbley.

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