Librarian bids farewell at Fritsch

The library run by Mrs. Nowlin at Fritsch Elementary School has the usual books and maps and student projects. It also has a clubhouse that sits squarely in the middle of the room, and naturally, some of the younger students assume she lives there.

On Thursday, students and teachers gave Janet Nowlin a heart-felt farewell. After 12 years as head librarian, she is retiring, or as some might prefer, moving out.

"I'm leaving the 31st," she said. "When I told the children I was retiring, they came back the next day wondering why I was still here, so I told them 'I'm flying off with the witches on Halloween.'"

To show their appreciation for her service to the school, students from each classroom made a square that was incorporated into a huge quilt. The project was put together by Mrs. Hubert.

Nowlin has a total of 21 years invested in the school district. She started out in the playground in 1976, eventually moving on to the library full time when she came to the realization that she and her husband, Jon, would be calling Carson City their permanent home.

The couple moved here from Michigan following Jon's career. He will be retiring this year as district chief for the U.S. Geological Survey.

"When we moved here, the idea was to give it five years and see what happens," she said. "We loved it so much here, we decided we would never move back.

"The friendliness of people in Nevada is amazing."

The couple will use the free time to visit their two sons who live in Colorado and Washington, and get to those long-neglected home projects.

"I'm looking forward to getting back into gardening," Nowlin said.

Fritsch Principal Dave Albers praised Nowlin and lamented that the children and staff will no longer get their daily dose of her wisdom.

"She's got a great heart," he said. "She loves the kids and will do anything for them."

Nowlin was especially diligent in helping the teachers with class projects.

"If a teacher says they are doing a project on whales, the next day she will have all the books ready," Albers said. "She cares about the learning process."

In the library, Nowlin was responsible for transferring the old card catalog reference system to computer. She said the move was one of the reasons she stayed on for an extra year.

Classes are each assigned to the library for a period each week. During that time they work on reading skills, get to check out books and learn library research like the Dewey Decimal system and computing.

Kay O'Neil, who has been assisting in the library for six years, will take over next week.