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The Trustees and Manager

The three initial trustees, Anny Curry, Ray Fry, and Sara Siebert, worked under Mrs. Edwards at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore as young adult librarians.  Mrs. Edwards set high expectations.  "You had to know 300 books, and you sat at her desk and gave verbal reports," said Anna Curry.   "She had the ability to inspire.  You did things you thought you could not do.  And that is a rare talent."   In 2003, Linda F. Lapides replaced Sara Siebert. Lanetta W. Parks replaced Ray Fry after his death in 2005.

	When Anna Curry was three or four, she joined the Pratt Library.  Years later as a Pratt librarian, she found the card where she had first signed her named so carefully.   While still a student at Morgan State University, she was asked of she would like to work at Pratt as a young adult librarian.  For three years in the 1960s, when a Baltimore African American radio station produced a weekly show for youth called "Book Fare," the stars were Anna Curry and her teenage readers from the Pennsylvania Avenue Branch.  In 1981, Anna Curry was named the Director of Pratt Library, the first African American to ever hold the position.  "But of all the things I've done," she says, "I still feel that my years as a Young Adult Librarian were the most exciting and rewarding."
	From the time Linda F. Lapides was old enough to cross the streets alone, she "lived" at the Keyworth Avenue branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.  Her parents and her childhood librarians, Miss Johnson and Miss Reese, encouraged her love of reading.  She still has the certificates she received for participating in the library summer reading programs.  She has good memories of reading Maureen Daly's Seventeenth Summer, the only teenage romance of the time, and of standing on top of the slate ledges which covered the heating system so that she could reach the adult books at the library.  While attending the University of Maryland, she applied and received a full Pratt scholarship to the Columbia University School of Library Service.  After graduation, she began her thirty-two year career at Pratt where she embraced Mrs. Edward's mission--to transform the minds and lives of young people through books.  Mrs. Lapides has written articles, given presentations and served on local and national committees promoting work with the teenage.
	As a girl, Lanetta W. (Lanny) Parks' favorite spot was the window seat in her hometown library where she spent hours reading.  In 1963, she joined the Young Adult staff of the Enoch Pratt Library under Sara Siebert, and in 1965, was awarded a full Pratt scholarship to the School of Library Science at the University of Maryland.  She received her degree and worked until 1969 when she resigned to raise her children.  She has been extremely active in supporting the Kent County Library, including serving on the board of trustees.  She has worked as a reference librarian at Queen Anne County Library, and at Kent School in Chestertown, she served as the librarian and also taught reading and English to seventh and eighth grade students.  In 1994, she opened a bookstore in Chestertown, where she continues to encourage reading.
	Manager and Attorney of the MAE Trust When young Julian Lapides roller skated to Branch #2 of the Enoch Pratt Library, the librarian made him take off his skates and leave them outside.  When he came out, his skates were gone.  He never forgave that librarian.  The moral of the story is-- Leave your skates at home.  He graduated from Towson University, the University of Maryland Law School, and also earned a master's degree from Johns Hopkins.  From 1963-1967, he served in the Maryland House of Delegates and served as at Maryland state senator from 1967-1994.  He and his wife, Linda, maintain a large collection of early American children's books.
	Trustee Emerita In the 1930s, Sara Siebert used to ride the trolley car downtown and hang out with her friends at Central Pratt Library.  When the teenagers would bring in their books, Mrs. Edwards would question them about what they had read.  "I hid from her sometimes," says Sara Siebert.  "Mrs. Edwards felt I was too much a city girl, and she wanted to broaden my scope.  She would chase me around with books she wanted me to read."  When Ms.Siebert graduated from Goucher College, she was assigned to Branch #12 of the Pratt Library, where she "stoked the furnaces, took care of the books, and handed out information when needed."  In 1962, Siebert followed in Mrs. Edwards' footsteps, becoming the Coordinator of Work with Young Adults at Pratt.
	Trustee Emeritus - Deceased Ray Fry grew up in Georgia, graduated from Duke University and Columbia University, and went to work at Pratt under Mrs. Edwards.  After that, he worked at Dallas Public Library and the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas.  He moved to Chicago, where he worked in publishing.  He also served as the Director of Library Programs for the U.S. Department of Education.  Once, when his children were young and visiting Mrs. Edwards on her farm, they yelled when they saw two snakes hanging from trees.  Mrs. Edwards grabbed her shot gun and shot the snakes through the heads.  The moral of the story is-- Always obey your librarian.