Mary Lucille
Peacock 1901-1985
| 
|
|
Ms. Lucille Peacock |
Mary Lucille Peacock was born in Gallion, Alabama, graduated
from Alabama State Teachers College and attended George Peabody
College for graduate training. She taught school and served
as principal of schools near Florence, Alabama and Webb, Mississippi.
After the 1927 Mississippi River flood, Peacock moved to Aberdeen
with her parents. The Aberdeen Woman’s Club hired Miss
Peacock at a salary of 50 cents a day, to oversee the library
they founded at City Hall. Later federal programs provided
money that boosted her salary to $1 a day. Miss Peacock held
summer reading programs, worked closely with the public schools,
civic organizations and area churches to extend library service
to as many patrons as possible. She had a weekly radio program
on WMPA where she read aloud to listeners. Miss Peacock also
saw the importance of a library serving as a repository for
local history.
Following Dr. W.A. Evans example, she began to solicit and
accept valuable records, genealogical materials, photographs
and memorabilia. She always stressed the importance of accepting
all donations from "a rock found by Tommy Davis in his
front yard" to a valuable first edition of William Faulkner's
The Marble Faun. "Why not
find a little space for some junk" she was fond of saying,
explaining that sometimes what appears to be junk turn out
to be valuable items of local history.
Her influence on the people of Aberdeen cannot be exaggerated
and she is still remembered with fondness by those who knew
her.
|
