HoweEnterprise.com
August 22, 2022
Librarian (Continued from page 1)
substitute. She returned to fulltime teaching last year as a kindergarten teacher in Trenton.
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First Baptist Church creating Memorial Bell Plaza
Stricklin says the Howe Librarian position is the only job she applied for and was surprised when getting the call. “I definitely thought there would be someone (apply) with a lot more experience, but I had served on the library board in Van Alstyne which was helpful,” said Stricklin who finished her Library Practicum in McKinney during the 2020 year during the pandemic. She says that she loves the small town atmosphere although saying it is much bigger than Trenton where she came from. “Everyone is so kind when they come in,” said Stricklin. “Everyone says it’s such a nice peaceful place.” She says the uniqueness of the Howe Community Library serving both the school and the public is a very different concept than what she’s used to. A library director in a school district does not deal with patrons from the public. “But I like that because you’re able to have the public library interaction and meet people in the community and also work in the school,” said Stricklin. Former Library Director Melissa Atchison has been helpful in the transition as she has been to the library three or four times to help Stricklin. She says the popular summer programs will remain in place during June 2023.
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The original bell at the First Baptist Church of Howe was installed in 1905 in a constructed belfry that was added to the original First Baptist Church of Howe at the corner of Davis and Denny Streets (present location of the tire shop). In 1955, the bell was removed and placed in the new auditorium across the street where the Baptist Fellowship Hall now currently located. It remained there even when the new sanctuary was constructed in the mid1970s. Sometime during the 1980s, the bell was removed because of weathered and dangerous rafters. It's been in storage behind the church office since. Church members have made a couple of attempts to resurrect it and it's finally happening thanks to the Memory Bell Committee led by Art Rayburn.
