Naperville will miss Miriam Fry

Naperville has lost one of its finest ambassadors in the death of Miriam Fry. We moved, for the sixth time in seven years, to Naperville in January 1959. Present-day newcomers would not experience the general feeling of 1959 Napervillians. If your grandfather wasn’t born here, you were “newcomers.”

Miriam Fry and her staff of Mrs. Finkbiner and Ruth Hammersmith, welcomed each new patron with warmth and courtesy. Children’s names were remembered, apparently from the first visit to the library on Washington Street. Mrs. Fry made the weekly library trip a genuine pleasure for many, many years. I’d like to think that it was her approach to library patrons that provides us all with the continued staff courtesy at the town’s central library.

Years after her retirement, I met her at Edward Health Club. I shouldn’t have been surprised that she asked about each of my children by name. Gracious, courteous, interested ... that was Miriam Fry. We’ve lost a charming lady. May she rest in peace.

Suzanne W. Watt

Naperville