Garrettsville – The youth room of the Portage County District Library’s Garrettsville Branch will soon be rededicated in honor of the gentle, soft-spoken children’s librarian who brought storytime alive for at least three generations of local children. The Friends of the Garrettsville Library will be renaming the youth room as the Miss Terri Youth Library in memory of Terri Lawless, who passed away unexpectedly in September 2021.
Cindy Sheehan, Secretary-Treasurer of the Friends of the Garrettsville Library, is working with President Ellen Eckhouse to collect donations to help defray costs associated with the commemoration of the room. The Friends plans to also host a public ceremony in late December 2022 (yet to be determined).
Sheehan, who was a longtime friend of Lawless, took over her role as secretary-treasurer of the Friends after the librarian’s passing. In fact, the two had just worked together to facilitate the first big book sale at the library since the onset of the pandemic. Four weeks later, Miss Terri succumbed to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 64.
“We were all pretty shocked,” Sheehan says. “And it wasn’t until after she passed that we realized everything she did behind the scenes. Terri was the heart and soul of The Friends.”
It didn’t take long for Friends members to agree that the memory of Miss Terri — who either worked or volunteered for the library for a total of 47 years — was deserving of a lasting recognition of her service to the children in this community.
“Many generations of youth learned to love reading at her storytimes,” Sheehan says. “So many people have told us of their own personal stories about special kindnesses Terri showed to them, their children or grandchildren… how she recognized when certain children at certain times needed one-on-one time and attention.”
Lawless lived in Hiram with her husband, Gary and son, Eric. She was a graduate of Crestwood High School (Class of 1975) and Hiram College (Class of 1979). According to Sheehan, Lawless started working at The Portage County District Library during high school, when the library was located in Hiram. When the new branch was built in Garrettsville, Lawless moved with it in 1987. After nearly 50 years with the public library, Miss Terri most recently worked as an aide for Crestwood Primary and Intermediate schools.
The Friends of The Library hope to raise at least $5,000 to cover costs for the commissioned artwork for the Miss Terri Youth Library. Any additional funds will go toward further improvements to the room (books, equipment, furniture, etc.).
Donations from individuals and organizations will directly support commissioned artwork honoring Miss Terri. Local artist Joe Leonard is designing a woodcarving of two intertwining trees for the entrance to the youth room, including embellishments of metalwork leaves and woodland creatures crafted by Tim Martin. In addition, a commemorative brass plaque in the form of an open book, and an original watercolor illustration of a storytime scene by Cleveland artist Karen Sandstrom will all be unveiled at the rededication ceremony.
Anyone who would like to contribute to the fundraiser for this effort has a few options. Donations are being accepted at the library’s front desk, where special envelopes for this purpose are provided. Please place check donations in an envelope addressed to ‘Friends of the Garrettsville Library – Miss Terri Youth Library’.
If sending donations by mail, address the envelope to: Friends of the Garrettsville Library – Miss Terri Youth Library, Garrettsville Library, 10482 South Street, Garrettsville, OH 44231. Make checks payable to: Friends of the Garrettsville Library. Note ‘Miss Terri Library’ on the memo line.
Contributions can also be made through smile.amazon.com. Select ‘Friends of the Garrettsville Library’ as your chosen charity. Instead of logging on to the regular Amazon website, log on to amazonsmile.com, shop as normal (same items, no price increase, no fees, same ID/password), and the Friends will get a charitable contribution from your Amazon purchases. Proceeds will help cover costs incurred by renovation of the youth room.
For more information, email libfriends@hotmail.com. Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement regarding the date of the ceremony to unveil the Miss Terri Youth Library in coming weeks.
