For the Love of Books

Thirty-four thousand books. That’s how many the Bargain Basket sells in a year. Eighty-one is the age of George Anne Draper, the thrift store’s volunteer librarian. She’s good at her job and everyone knows it. In January, Draper was honored with the Betty Ringler Award, given to the Bargain Basket volunteer who embodies the spirit of giving and selfless community support. The award is voted on by fellow staff and volunteers. 

Ringler was the founder and first manager of the incredibly popular thrift store, a ministry arm of the United Church of Marco Island. This is the second year of the award. Sue Kozlowski won last year. 

Draper debunks the stereotype of the cranky librarian. She dealt with one of those as a kid back in Arkansas. 

"The librarian that was at my school,where I grew up in the 50s and 60s, really didn't want you in there,” Draper said. “And I didn't go in and check out books because she was so cranky. And in fact, we toilet-papered her yard. She deserved it. If we could have toilet papered the library it would have been better. I felt a little bit guilty about it, but not for long,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. 

Draper went on to become a high school English teacher, then a librarian. She said she learned something from the cranky librarian.  

"If I learned anything from her it's that I didn't want to be that way,” Draper said. "Not as a teacher or as a librarian. She didn't want you doing anything. I loved it when the kids came in the library. Now, I didn't want them getting really loud because there were people in there trying to study. But you have to let them be themselves."  

Draper served as her school’s librarian for 15 years after spending 24 years in the classroom teaching 10th-grade English. The superintendent of schools almost didn’t allow her to make the move to librarian. 

 “I applied for the job and they tried to give it to someone else,” she said. "The superintendent's reasoning was, 'you're so good in the classroom.' I was chair of the English department. He said, 'I don't want to lose you in the classroom.' Then, a father came to me and said, ‘Please don't leave the classroom. You've taught both of my daughters, and my son is going to be in the 10th grade.’ I taught 39 years,” she mused, "I wished that I hadn't retired.” 

How often do you hear someone say they regret not working longer? 

 "Oh, I loved it. I loved my students,” Draper gushed. "I still get letters from them. If I were to go back and work again, which at 81 they're not going to hire me, but I  would love it. And I think I could still have a relationship with my students. If you want to have a relationship with your students, you can have one, you know?" 

Sometimes, “book people” don’t enjoy interacting with people. That’s certainly not the case with Draper. Developing relationships with her customers at the Bargain Basket is one of the perks of the job for her. She figures she has at least 100 regular customers. 

"I'm certainly not an introvert,” she chuckles. "And I like living by myself. My husband passed away the year after we moved here in 2019. That was unexpected. I've said the Bargain Basket gives me comfort. It gives me something to do. And I have to have something to do. It's not cleaning the house, washing the dishes, doing the laundry. It's books. Books are my solace in a way, but I couldn't live without people. The greatest part of the job is working with books. But the next greatest thing is working with people and volunteering and telling them, you know, this is a good book. Of course, they think I've read all the books, and there's no way!” 

Draper feels reading is part of her DNA. She grew up in the small town of Wynne, Arkansas, about 50 miles from Memphis. 

 “My grandparents had so many books in their home,” she said. "So obviously, it's something that my family loved. My mother was an avid reader. Books were just part of my life. I remember reading at an early age. My mother read to us a lot. And my favorite picture of my baby sister is when she was just a toddler sitting in a little rocking chair with the book open. Of course, she wasn't really reading. She thought she was." 

Draper said her family was of modest means. 

“But we were surrounded by books,” she said. "Books were bought before other things were. It's kind of like that saying that goes, 'we didn't know we were poor.' We knew that we were loved, and that was all that mattered. And we had books to read. I remember when we moved into the house I grew up in, it was after the war and we didn't have bookshelves. One of the first things they did in that house was put bookshelves in. I loved to read and the thing for young girls was Nancy Drew. I went to bed every night with a Nancy Drew book. It was so exciting." 

Draper fondly remembers a loving gesture her father made for her mother. 

"We had a very close family growing up,” Draper recalls. “We had a wonderful family and a warm place to live and food to eat. And books always. My mother went to bed at night with a book and then my daddy would let her sleep late in the morning. He got up and cooked breakfast.” 

Draper learned volunteerism from her parents. 

"I went to church at United Church and found out about Bargain Basket,” she said. "And I thought, 'I believe I found my place.' So, I came and told them I wanted to volunteer because I am a volunteer by my genes - my mother and dad were volunteersof the year in their community. I was the humanitarian of the year in my hometown. It's my most treasured award.” 

While Draper is flattered to win the Betty Ringler Award, she doesn’t necessarily welcome the attention. 

"I really don't like attention called to me because we have 200 volunteers here,” she said, "I feel uncomfortable. I just never really wanted to call attention to myself. I mean, I just want to help people. Awards are not something that I aspire to. I'm thankful for it, and I appreciate it. But it's not my aspiration. My aspiration right now is to have some time to read another book. I mean, books are just my life. I can say that because that's what I do. I handle books all day, and I love every minute of it.”