In Memoriam :: Mary Miller 1955-2008 Glendale Library

Mary Louise Miller 1955 - 2008

Legacy: 2008

Mary Miller, the Library’s Literacy Coordinator passed away this Saturday after a relatively short battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband, two daughters and six beloved grandchildren. A service is planned for Sunday in Victorville.

Mary came to Glendale in 1996 from the San Bernardino County Library. Under Mary’s leadership the Glendale Library Literacy program grew and served the needs of our changing community. She started a Family Reading Program that targeted adult literacy learners with small children.

She helped develop literacy partnerships with local public schools, and businesses such as hospitals, restaurants and convalescent homes. Wherever Mary found a need for adult literacy she found a way for the Library to help.

Mary’s reach went beyond the Library. She was a GCEA Representative who was an active participant for Relay for Life and the Community Alliance Committee. She was a past president of the Glendale Community Coordinating Council. She also served on the Executive Board of the Workforce Investment Board and chaired its Resource Mapping Committee.

Mary was active in the State Library’s California Library Literacy Services organization as well as the Southern California Library Literacy Network. She was recognized as a top “trainer of trainers” in her field, and in 2004, she was the only literacy professional selected from Los Angeles County as a MEDALS Fellow, funded by the S. Mark Taper Foundation.

In this program Mary traveled around the United States observing innovative literacy programs. As a result of that experience she developed workshops for many California literacy providers and incorporated innovative ideas into the Glendale Library program.

The benefits of Mary’s hard work are easy to see in the numbers of volunteers and students that participate in the Literacy program. There are many success stories of Mary’s Literacy program changing lives by giving people the ability to read.read.

Mary will be dearly missed by her family, by Library and City staff, and by the Glendale community who came to know her as a fun-loving, energetic, and passionate leader for literacy, reading and the Library.

In Lieu of Flowers

The family has asked that donations be made to the Glendale Public Library Literacy Program. Checks payable to the Friends of the Glendale Public Library. Donations should indicate that they are intended for the Mary Miller Literacy Fund.