A three-day come and go celebration was held last week at Morden's South Central Regional Library to give patrons a chance to wish Dorothy Martens well on her retirement. After 33 yrs., Martens decided it was the right time to retire, but knows she will feel sad to leave a job she enjoyed so very much. 

"I started at the South Central Regional Library, the Morden Branch, way back 33 years ago, in February, and our library was where the art gallery is now. That was a fun place to work. Those were the days prior to computers. Through the years I've done lots of things, I've worked with really great people. The best part of working in the library is serving the people."  

Martens admits she has served generations of people.  

"I have served generations of people. One of the first years that I was working at the library, I was the Storytime Lady and I know for a fact that some of the children that were in my very first story time sessions are now in the school system as teachers and EA's, which blows my mind, or I see them come in and they're adults."  

She liked seeing children find their love of reading. 

"Their parents dragged them in, and (the child would say,) 'Oh, I don't really want to be here.' (She would ask,) 'Do you want to try this?' 'No.' And all of a sudden, they see something that tweaks their interest and then that's when they learn to love reading. That just jump starts their whole life and it's so exciting just to see them when they're coming in and they're all excited. 'Look,' (the child would say,) 'there's the dinosaurs, or there's the cars, or fairy tales,' or whatever." 

Morden Branch Administrator Gail Hildebrand said over the years Martens has gone through a lot of changes. 

"Dorothy's been amazing to work with. She is willing to do anything. She said she did the Storytime. She is willing to step in on any kind of programming, whether it's with the adults, with the kids, whether it's insanity like Lego Club, when we have early dismissal. She's been with Morden branch for 33 years she started when we were still card cataloging, and yet she is one of my main people that does social media." 

Solving mysteries is Marten's favourite part of the job. 

"My favourite part is finding things that other people might not find, like people come and they ask for a book that's kind of difficult to find. That's my favorite part." 

Hildebrand said it wouldn't be the same without her. 

"I don't know who's going to solve the mysteries when Dorothy 's gone because she tracks down the books that nobody else can find, and she finds the books that are missing, and Dorothy loves a good mystery. She is going to be impossible to replace. It's going to be very different without Dorothy here."