Meet the first librarian

COMMUNITY PROFILE

You’ve probably seen the big plaque in the Dripping Springs Community Library, dedicating the Children’s Wing in honor of Nora Wouters. But do you know anything about Nora? Well, she is a self-contained, graceful, community-oriented woman who became the first librarian for the Dripping Springs Community Library (DSCL).

Nora grew up in Belgium, and has an affinity for languages. She is fluent in three - Dutch, French, English - and also knows a bit of Greek and Latin. “My mother died when I was four,” she said, “and my father remarried, to a French woman. I picked up French very quickly after that,” she said with a smile. English was taught in school as a matter of course.

Nora married Edwin Wouters while they were still quite young, in Belgium. Edwin studied chemical engineering in college and after graduation, accepted an offer from 3M to work in Canada. The couple lived in Toronto, London Ontario, and Vancouver, before moving to a 3M job in the United States-- St. Paul Minnesota-- in 1976.

Then it happened; Edwin was offered a transfer to 3M in Austin, and they moved to Dripping Springs in 1984 with their two school aged children.

“In Canada I had worked at the University of British Columbia Library, doing cataloging and bibliographical searching, so when we moved to Dripping Springs, I volunteered at the elementary school’s library,” Nora said. “In those days the elementary school library was in a portable behind what is now the school district’s administrative building. My children were in school, and it was a good place to volunteer.”

Nora said that from that acorn, came the idea that Dripping Springs should have a public library.

“Charlotte Rhodes took the initiative, and in 1986 we started our public library,” Nora said. “When we first opened in May of 1986, it was a combined library with the high school—which is now the middle school—and the school books and public library books were combined and available to the public. That’s when I first became the librarian for the Dripping Springs Community Library. Then it wasn’t until 1998 when the current library was built, and that the Dripping Springs Community Library became its own library.”

“The Baird family donated the land, and then we began a series of fundraisers. We used to call them ‘The Gathering,’ weekends when artists from different parts of the country sold their art, and there was also a big dinner. The fundraiser was a big event at the time,” Nora said.

Nora said it was Charlotte Rhodes who persuaded her to become the librarian when the idea of having a separate community library first came up. “We were at lunch and she proposed I become the librarian. I told her I didn’t do public speaking. She said, ‘That’s OK, I’ll do the speaking, you do the job,’ and that’s how I became the librarian,” Nora said.

When asked what she is most proud of, Nora said it was the community effort that made the library a reality. “It became a community effort. So many people came together, getting grants, getting furniture, building stuff, and it became an asset in the community. I was proud to be part of that group,” Nora said.

As first librarian, Nora also made a lasting impact on the collection at the DSCL. ““Nora had an international view of the collection that Dripping Springs should have, and through numerous novels that took place in Europe and were authored by Europeans, helped to broaden the collection,” Chris Marcum, former DSCL board member, said. “She truly had a global view and was all-inclusive in her consideration of what resources a community library should offer.”

Nora also volunteered around the community as well. “Nora’s daughter Jessica was in my third-grade classroom [at Dripping Springs Elementary] the year Nora and her husband became United States citizens [in 1987],” said friend Susan Stark, a longtime friend and supporter of DSCL. “I remember how excited Nora was in her quiet sort of twinkly eye show of excitement. They went to San Antonio for the ceremony and she later came into our classroom to tell us all about that experience. It was a wonderful gift to our class to learn what one has to do to become a citizen.”

After a time, Nora said she tried to retire several times, but wasn’t able to do it until 2003. “Every time I tried to retire something came up, but I was finally able to do it.”

But even then, after retiring, Nora continued to help out. “Nora volunteered at the library after retiring as Library Director, but was reluctant to volunteer for a story time slot,” DSCL Children’s Librarian Marie Kimbrough said. “She thought her accent would make a story hard for children to understand. Thankfully, she gave it a try, and of course the children loved her special way with a story!”

Nora husband, Edwin, was also involved with the library, and was a board member for a time. “Each summer at the library brings a new summer reading theme, and trains played a big part in 2010,” Kimbrough explained. “Edwin had agreed to share his collection of scale model trains during a program for the older children. Since the younger children seemed left out, at least as Nora saw things, she insisted they find a train set suitable for smaller hands. Those same train tracks still provide lots of fun for the younger ones visiting the Children’s Room at the library.”

Unfortunately for the community, Nora is moving out of Dripping Springs soon, to north Texas, to be closer to her grandchildren. Her son Kelly and his wife Melina have both a seven-year-old, Luke, and a newly born three-and-a-halfmonth baby, Nate. “I’ll also be closer to my daughter Jessica and her husband Mike—and their children Katie, seven, and Sean, four—because I’ll be able to take a direct flight to them from Dallas,” Nora said.

To people who know Nora, it will come as no surprise that one of the biggest tasks in packing was packing all her books. “I had friends come over to help box stuff up, and we filled 61 boxes with books. I can’t live without books. I like to be surrounded by books, that’s when I feel at home,” Nora said.

“Nora has always been dedicated, as a mother, a friend, a librarian, a volunteer,” said Stark. “She is a treasure within our community, and we will miss her.”