Linda Brewer retired as Southport Memorial Library’s sixth librarian a couple months ago. A much-loved figure at the library for 30 years, she wasn’t your typical librarian.

If you went in on a summer, or even a winter, day, and she was wearing shoes, you might be suspicious that she wasn’t feeling up to snuff. Brewer admitted to an aversion to confining her feet to shoes.

“I can’t stand shoes when it gets warm,” said Brewer.

New librarian Nora Lally has worked at the library for over three years, but her mother was a library aide, so she’s known Brewer for many years. “Her being barefoot is an example of how she set the tone to make this library so loved and successful,” she said. “Everyone loved the books and movies she picked out, but it’s really the laid-back, easygoing culture she created that I think makes this library so popular.”

Brewer started working at the library as an assistant to Flo Walker in 1981. Eight years later, she took over as head librarian or, as she explained, just librarian. “I was the only one here. I couldn’t be called head. It’s always been kind of a one-person operation.” It wasn’t until 2017 that a second person was added to help full-time.

“Flo retired at the end of May in 1989,” Brewer said. “So I was going to officially retire at the end of May, but decided that was lousy timing. We get really busy around that time and it would be hard for someone to take over then. I figured it would be better for it to happen in the middle of the winter.”

She then planned to leave at the end of 2017, but someone suggested she work till the first Tuesday in January so she could say she retired in 2018. “So I came down that Tuesday,” she said with a laugh.

Brewer said when Walker took over from librarian Priscilla Harriman, she didn’t drive at night, so she asked Brewer’s aunt Marge to fill in for her the one evening the library was open. “After a couple weeks she decided that wasn’t for her, so the next time the trustees met, Gerry Gamage asked me if I’d do it.

“I’ve been involved with this place since 1974. It was all my aunt Marge’s fault. ‘Well, you like to read,’ she said. ‘We need someone new on the book committee. Why don’t you come for that, and while you’re at it, you might as well join the library aides.’

“And I don’t know whose idea it was for me to become a trustee, but I ended up doing that, too.”

The library has never had a “professional librarian,” according to Brewer. “It’s just been done by people who have been involved for so many years, they know how it’s done.”

Lally said many people look forward to going to the library thanks to the easygoing atmosphere. “There's always a lot of laughter, and we joke that if you like a quiet library, you're in the wrong place.”

And there’s the bubbler just inside the door, with paper cups, and a bowl on the floor for the furry friends who accompany their “parents” to the library. “She loves animals,” Lally said. “And she always encouraged people to bring their doggies into the library for snacks that she’d buy for them.”

Brewer reminisced about “the good old days” at the library. “The best day was when we finally got a bathroom. One of the earlier librarians told me she kept a coffee can here and I’d look out the window to make sure no one was coming. A man could have just gone outside, but we’ve never had a male librarian.”

She also remembers the first movie the library bought – a VHS tape of Robin Williams reading a kid’s story called “Pecos Bill.”

Now there are hundreds of DVDs, thanks to Brewer, who started ordering them. She also started the book store upstairs to bring in the money to buy the movies.

The annual Christmas fair was also dreamed up by Brewer, as a way to bring new people into the library. It was so popular, there is now one in July, too.

Lally said Brewer always put the patrons first: “(She was) always happy to answer any questions, order books and movies patrons requested, and share her huge wealth of knowledge about the 38,000-book collection she created. She knew all of the regular patrons’ tastes, and would often put aside books for people she knew would enjoy (them).

“And Kathy Barter was a big help to Linda. Kathy is Linda’s cousin who helped out in any way she could, reading to children at story hour, getting them to make crafts, snacks, and more. She was a huge part of the relaxed feeling in the library too. Everyone in Southport knows and loves her.

“Kathy always liked to tell the story of how, when they were kids, Linda would read ‘Dracula’ and other horror stories to her, which is funny because it's so out of character for Linda because it scared the hell out of Kathy, who was a few years younger. Now Kathy is a huge scaredy cat.”

Brewer has mixed feelings about retiring.

In her spare time, Brewer has always loved making artful crafts. She almost didn’t take on the job of librarian because she was participating in lots of craft fairs at the time, which often occurred on Saturdays, and her husband Peter liked to go camping on summer weekends.

Her felted wool creations have always been among the more popular items at the annual Christmas Fair at the library, She’s planning to get back to making the little wool animals and other things in her free time now.

She also plans to make quilts. She has made a few, and has the top of one for her daughter done, layered with the backing and batting, pinned together and ready to finish.

“Work, however much or little, can take over your life,” she said. “I’ve been getting catalogs, and looking at them, but I haven’t had time to do it.”

Brewer is looking forward to seeing more of her daughter, Jessica, 45, who lives in Montana and works for the Bitterroot National Forest.

The Brewers recently bought a little truck camper. Linda’s hope is to drive it out to Montana. She hopes Peter will finally stop lobstering, too. “If we have plenty of time we can do that. He doesn’t go out from November to April anymore, but if he spends too much time lobstering I’m going down to his boat with a drill.”

Among the many things Brewer will miss about her job is the coffee group. “They come twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I’ll be coming to those. Otherwise I’d miss them. This is my social life, along with choir and church.”

“Working for Linda was the best,” Lally said. “She never ... got angry. She didn't micromanage. When I started working, I'd ask what she'd like me to do, and she'd say whatever is the next best thing for the library.

“I wanted to work hard for her because I had so much respect for her. She became the librarian not because she wanted to, but because she was there, and said yes because she wanted to do what was best for the town.

“Knowing what's involved, I don't know how she did it. I've never known her to be overwhelmed or stressed. She's extremely smart mixed with sweet and is one of the kindest people I've known. Yup, she's pretty much Wonder Woman as far as I'm concerned. The town is so lucky to have had her.”