by Roberta Russell
Over the years, the Friends of the Library group has recognized some very special people with its Star of the Library Award, but none more special than this year’s recipients. Jean Kilfoyle and Fran Thompson grew up in homes where libraries and books were highly valued and Fran’s mother was Kemptville’s librarian for a number of years. When Dr. Pat Babin set about to organize a local Friends of the Library group, Jean and Fran were among its founding members and over the years, they could always be counted on to help – whether staffing barbecues, selling raffle tickets, cooking for bake sales and teas (both are exceptionally fine cooks), sorting books for and staffing the annual book sales, organizing silent auctions, garden tours, etc. Basically nothing happened without their being very actively involved. They could always be counted on to pitch in with good humour, ideas and lots of energy and a few years later, when the possibility of a modern new library was being discussed and the building committee needed help with its campaign, they continued to do what they had always done – doing the work to make good things happen.
When plans got underway for construction of the new library, Jean started talking about the need for something special for seniors. In 2012, about a year after the new library opened, she and Fran launched “Youngsters of Yore”. They created through Youngsters of Yore, a wonderfully enriching program for seniors. Meeting once a week with guest speakers on all kinds of interesting topics or performances by musicians followed by refreshments, Youngsters of Yore makes a valuable educational and social contribution to the lives of seniors in our community.
In recognition of their work over the years and especially for creating and managing the wonderfully successful “Youngsters of Yore”, the North Grenville Friends of the Library presented its 2024 “Star of the Library” awards to Jean Kilfoyle and Fran Thompson.
