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Library clerk closes 20-year long chapter Retirement won’t slow Rasor down By Michelle Boswell mboswell@thepaperofmiami.com
Michael Rasor, clerk at the Peru Public Library, arranges some books during one of his last shifts. Rasor retired from the library on February 21. Photo by Michelle Boswell
Award given to Rasor to recognize his contributions to the library.
February 26, 2020
The number of well-wishers who came to see Michael Rasor speaks volumes about the kind of man he is to so many. Rasor, who has served as a library clerk for 20 years and one week, has retired from the Peru Public Library. As friends and well-wishers came through the doorway decorated with hanging foil stars, you could see Rasor’s face light up with memories of that person and the relationship he had built with them. Rasor came to Peru in 1970 as an 18-year-old, heavy-equipment operator in the military. He stayed in the service for eight years. He then started working with the civil service, providing services for family housing through carpentry and maintenance. Then the government switched to contract jobs that took Rasor on the road and across the country. He did that for 13 years and grew tired of traveling. He came back to Peru and started his own general construction business. That’s where his life and those at the library intersected. He began to do repairs there and one day he saw a sign looking for help as a library clerk. “I saw the sign, asked about the job and started
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the next week,” Rasor said with a smile while reflecting. Even though he was a clerk, Rasor said “I kind of volunteered and was enlisted to be a construction overseer” when the library went through the recent and major renovation. “I would report to the director about what was happening,” he said. While Rasor told of his history with the library, people were continuing to pop in to tell him how much they were going to miss him. The room had a table decorated with candies, plates of cookies and a plaque that anchored the left side. The wooden and engraved plaque read, “Michael Rasor – Retiring Coworker and Friend - Thank you for your exceptional work and dedication throughout the last 20 years. As you move on into the next chapter of your life, know that you will be missed, know that our very best wishes and thoughts go with you, and know that we will never forget your professional expertise and friendship. Our best wishes go with you! February 21, 2020.” When asked what he will miss the most about his job at the library, he didn’t hesitate when he said, “Meeting the people. I already knew a lot of people from my other work, but this has created relationships with about everyone who has walked through the door. I’ll sure miss all of the people.” And what about the people who go to the library and interact with Rasor? What kind of an impact has he had on the many people he talked to and helped day after day? He has become a special person to quite of few people over the years. Two of them, who he mentioned during the interview, traveled a long way to see him and both were originally from Peru. One was from Miami, Fla. Rasor, when he spoke of her, spoke with such enthusiasm. It was almost as if he was a doting dad who was proud of the woman she had become. He proudly said, “she became a police officer.” She used to come into the library and get help from Rasor with her homework. “She didn’t have anywhere to go at night so she would come here and do her schoolwork. Her grandparents were raising her because she came from a broken home. She came all this way to see me and brought her own daughter to meet me,” he said. Another young lady came back from Ohio. “She does child counseling and she came back here to thank me for helping her,” Rasor said. (continued on page 2)
Vol. 1, No. 3