Wednesday, Sep. 08, 2010

Apex librarian is remembered

Apex library patrons cut a birthday cake last month to celebrate Joyce Bingham Day, a town holiday honoring a fixture of the Eva Perry Regional Library.

Bingham, a longtime librarian there, died of a stroke in March. August 19 would have been her 59th birthday.

A town proclamation establishing the honor says that Bingham was "an essential and vital part of the delivery of excellent library services to the Apex Community" dating back to the days when the town's library was housed in the old depot building. It moved to its current location in 1996.

"She was just the heart and soul of the library," said Mary McNabb-Graham, a co-worker of Bingham's for 15 years.

McNabb-Graham, the library's adult services department manager, said Bingham excelled at her role in arranging book groups and discussions, as well as in recommending books to patrons and, perhaps most importantly, making everyone feel welcome. "She was just the quintessential librarian," McNabb-Graham said. "It made her happiest to make other people happy."

Library visitors remember her for her enthusiasm, easy manner and uncanny recall of names and faces.

An online guest book posted after her death prompted pages of memorials - some from library patrons who hardly knew her personally. "What a shock ... to find that one of my favorite librarians will no longer be here to greet me not only with her ever-ready smile but also by calling me and so many others by name," wrote Claire Drehmel of Apex.

Bingham settled in Apex after a youth marked by several moves, from Massachusetts to Key West. She raised her two daughters in the town, and helped found the Shepherd's Vineyard Book Club, which has met for 21 years.

She was also known for her frequent efforts to find homes for stray animals, some of which she took in herself.

Bingham is survived by her father, sister, husband and two daughters.