After more than 46 years, Macon librarian ready for her ‘retirement chapter’

Sylvia Haynes first met Suzy McCullough when McCullough taught her son, Wesley, in the second grade at Alexander III Elementary School.

A generation later, Haynes often took Wesley’s young daughter, Annsley, to the Shurling Library, where McCullough was the children’s librarian.

McCullough would sit at a small, round table and read books to Annsley. But she didn’t always get requests for Dr. Seuss, Peter Rabbit or the Poky Little Puppy.

“She wanted me to read books to her about doctors,’’ McCullough said. “So I read her things like ‘Dr. Dan the Bandage Man.’’’

(The Little Golden Book classic about Dr. Dan from the 1950s was so popular it has been placed in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian.)

Annsley devoted her childhood to nursing her dolls back to health and turning her playhouse into a laboratory. She would sit in her highchair and squish Jello with her fingers as if she were performing brain surgery. When she watched PBS, she preferred medical documentaries to Sesame Street.

She grew up, got married and had her first child in January. In May, she will graduate from Mercer’s School of Medicine.

Monday was McCullough’s final day at Riverside Library, where she has been the branch librarian since May 3, 2009. She is retiring after 46 years and eight months, making her the longest-tenured employee in the Middle Georgia Regional Library System. 

A proclamation was read at Tuesday’s commission meeting, designating it as Suzy McCullough Day in Macon. She laughed and said it was only appropriate it had been scheduled for April Fool’s Day.

McCullough will be 80 in July and has tended to her labor of love  for 57 years. She was an elementary school teacher for 11 years, then served as the children’s librarian and branch librarian for 30 years from 1979-2009. 

“I love the job, but I want to have a retirement chapter in my life,’’ she said.

Chapter? Spoken like a true librarian.

Those first pages were written as a youngster. She would sit in  her mother’s lap, and Frances McCowen would read books to her daughter at their house on Boulevard. McCullough and her brothers were avid comic book readers and kept a stack on a shelf in the hallway.

Her childhood was devoted to three libraries — the Alexander III school library, the downtown Washington Memorial Library and the library at First Baptist Church. She had influential teachers and librarians who encouraged her and fostered her love of reading and learning.

She carried it with her when she began teaching immediately after graduating from Mercer University in December 1967.  She taught third grade at Jos. N. Neel and Hartley, second grade at Hunt and Alexander III and fifth grade at Clisby.

“The most fun part of the day was every day after lunch,’’ she said. “That’s when I would read to the children. They were always enraptured with what I read to them.’’

It was a natural transition after Rebecca Sherrill hired her as the children’s librarian at Shurlington, overseeing the summer reading programs and weekly puppet shows.

In those days,  books were looked up in the card catalog using the Dewey Decimal System. And almost every librarian had a reputation for keeping the level of noise slightly above a whisper. McCullough hushed so many rooms they could have called her Shhhhhhhhuzy.

“When I started at the library, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven … and I’ve felt that way ever since,’’ she said. “Hopefully, I have helped other people learn to love reading because we want them to be lifelong learners.’’

She said she has enjoyed being surrounded by two of her favorite things in life — books and people.

“Anything to do with books is not work,’’ she said. “To me, reading is like breathing.’’

After helping generations of Maconites with book selections, reading recommendations and coming to the rescue of schoolchildren with homework projects, she said she is grateful for the opportunity to have made a difference.

People often see her at the grocery store and come rushing up to thank her.

About five years ago, she was at the stop sign at Laurel Avenue and Boulevard when a man turned the corner and recognized her. He stopped and rolled down his window.

“Aren’t you the library lady?” he asked.

“Yes,’’ she told him.

“I remember you,’’ he said. “You did such a good job with those children and the puppet shows. You just keep doing what you are doing. You’re blessed.’’