Come before His presence with singing

Yesterday I was a funeral for a friend. One of the readings at the service (which I didn’t know about until I was there) was from Psalm 100. I had recorded a video of me reading that Psalm earlier in the week. I had already planned to post the psalm today, but I decided to share something I wrote about her as well.

Mary Jane Westerhausen: 1958 - 2026

Mary Jane Westerhausen worked at the Alfred Dickey Library for almost thirty years.

Some of our patrons might be surprised to hear that as they may not remember seeing

her at the library. She worked away from the front desk as our cataloger, adding all the

items to our system so they can be checked out. The job requires patience and

attention to detail.

As cataloger, Mary Jane wasn’t ever the face of the library, but she was in its heart. She

loved working with and being surrounded by books. It was also always her passion to

do things well and serve the community. She set a high standard for other library

employees.

She was always the first one at work. She would get to the library early, after doing her

chores at home to care for her cattle and driving in from out of town. On dark winter

mornings, it was nice knowing that someone was already at the library—the lights were

on and likely she had coffee brewing and music playing.

Mary Jane loved music as well as books. She would listen her way through the library’s

whole CD collection, and some of us were less than enthusiastic when she was in the

extensive country section or the opera section. But the amazing part was that she could

tell you something about the majority of the artists and a lot about the ones she liked.

Mary Jane also had a fascination for writing. In fact, I first met her at a poetry class at

Jamestown College, before I started working at the library myself. She appreciated a

wide range of books and writing styles, and turned her hand to writing in her free time.

One aspect of Mary Jane that will live on in my memory is her love of family. She was so

proud of the musical talents of all her children, as well as what they’ve accomplished in

their personal and professional lives. She always enjoyed sharing stories about them.

She also loved to share Leon’s one-liners. One of my favorites was, “Words are cheap,

but whiskey costs money.” Her love of family applied in extra measure to her

grandchildren. She would delight us with stories about them, often including several

nicknames so sometimes we had to clarify who she was talking about. Every year, she

made a book for each grandchild full of pictures she’d taken of them and a story or

verse she’d added to go along with the pictures. Every year she’d bring the books to

work before Christmas for “show and tell,” as she called it. She would let us look

through the books and could tell stories about each photo in them.

Mary Jane also had a great sense of humor and enjoyed funny stories, books, and

jokes. Her laugh still echoes in the library.

Part of the library’s heart shattered with the passing of Mary Jane, and we will still be

picking up the pieces for a long while.

To honor Mary Jane, we will do what she did—buckle down, do what’s in front of us to

the best of our abilities, and think about how what we’ve doing can help improve the

community.

Mary Jane will be missed—very much so—but her work and her memory will live on.