Rutland librarian turns page on 50-year career
Sheila Coe retires after 50-year career in Kelowna libraries
Sheila Coe has spent the past 50 years working in Kelowna libraries, getting to know hundreds of people in the community.
Wednesday was her last day as a community librarian, as she stepped into retirement.
The Rutland library sent her off with a party and a cake, as many well-wishers came to congratulate Coe on her next phase.
“I love this job,” Coe said Wednesday. “I hear people say they don’t want to go to work, and I don’t understand.”
Coe started working with the Kelowna library at the former downtown location on Queensway Avenue in 1968. She came to the Rutland branch in September 1990.
Coe’s favourite part of the job over the years has been interacting with everyone who comes to the library.
“We get a lot of people that are quite lonely and they live alone, so their human contact is with us,” she said. “In this branch, we take a minute to talk, (say) ‘how are you today,’ and they tell us a story about something that’s happened . . . and we always listen.”
Coe said she is looking forward to resting and not setting her alarm for the first part of her retirement, but it won’t be long before she’s back in the community.
“I’m going to try and find a volunteer job that I like,” she said. “I think I would like to work down at the hospital, maybe as a guide or in the gift shop . . . where you’re still seeing people. I see so many people in a day, and I’m going to miss that contact.”