Richard Brown is one of the first patrons I met at the library when I came to Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library in 2015. I hadn’t seen Mr. Brown for some time; so when I saw him once again checking out audiobooks at the circulation desk, I asked if he would sit for an interview.

Brown, 70, is originally from Abington, Massachusetts. Growing up, he tells me, in elementary school he read just about every book they had in the library, “The Hardy Boys, the Nancy Drew's…phenomenal…and my grades reflected it,” he laughed, “because I did more reading than my schoolwork.” Brown admits he spent so much time in his elementary school library because he had detention just about every day!

“The [public library] in Abbington was right next to the candy shop, so I was in the vicinity quite often after school, and I did use that one too, and did a lot of adventure-book kind of reading.” At the Abbington Library Brown was impressed by their display of Civil War memorabilia, and enjoyed looking over the collection of musket balls and uniforms from the era. I asked Brown how he felt as a kid when he visited his library, “I felt like a big shot,” he reminisced, “because I could ride my bike anywhere I wanted in town; so I would leave the detention hall, swing up to the library and candy shop, and then pedal back up to the Brockton area.”

Brown’s family summered in a log cabin on Sawyer’s Island from 1953-1972. He loved the area, so in 1983 he moved here with his family.

Mr. Brown has been using Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library off and on for years. “When I started driving trucks cross-country I was here almost every Friday to pick up seven or eight audiobooks. Then I’d bring them right back next weekend and start it all over. My day on the road would suddenly be done, because you're so absorbed and what's going on [in the book]. I loved it. It was probably the best job I've ever had other than the fire department. I started out in the fire department of the Marine Corps as an aircraft firefighter, and went into federal civil service when I got out, retired out of the Togus VA Hospital. I’ve been with the Boothbay Fire Department as a volunteer since ‘84.”

About BHML’s audiobook collection, Brown says “I've gone through your entire collection, and I’m starting it again for the third time.”