09/10/2026
From the Wi******er Star, 9/9/26:
Bowman Library Branch Manager Mary Anton is closing the book on her career.
After 22 years of service to Bowman that started with a part-time job in its circulation department, Friday will be her last day at the library on Tasker Road near Stephens City before she settles into retirement.
"It's been a good run," Anton said.
While Anton grew up loving libraries, she said she never expected to spend most of her adult life working in them.
"I was a political science major, so my heart was always in government," she said. "I never thought about being a librarian."
After college, Anton got a job on Capitol Hill, which is when she started learning more about libraries and how they are run.
"The folks at the Library of Congress were wonderful, very supportive," Anton said.
Those insights proved invaluable when Anton was appointed director of the White House libraries in the 1980s.
"When I started, it was Reagan's term, so I was there for that, and then through the first Bush administration, and then two years into the Clinton administration," Anton said.
While she didn't have much interaction with Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton during her days at the White House, Anton said President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, were more accessible.
"I got to do fun things [during the Bush administration]," she said. "I got to go to Camp David to help organize his library there, and I got to go on the new Air Force One to tour it one time. �I also got to ride in a motorcade once."
During Anton's tenure at the White House, "Millie's Book" — a title credited to the Bush family's dog, Millie — was published, so Anton gave the "author" her own library card. The lighthearted gesture did not go unnoticed.
"I got a thank you note from him [President Bush] that was written by him," Anton said. "Mrs. [Barbara] Bush wrote a note on it, and then the last line was, 'I can speak for myself. Arf!'
"That was a great job," Anton said of working at the White House. "But, you know, pretty much any job is a great job if you enjoy it."
Anton had discovered that she loved being a librarian, but she decided to give it up to become a stay-at-home mom after giving birth to her first son when she was 38. When she was 43 and pregnant with son No. 2, her boys and now ex-husband left Washington and moved to the Northern Shenandoah Valley.
Meanwhile, the Wi******er-based Handley Regional Library System opened the Mary Jane and James L. Bowman Library branch in 2001. Anton got a part-time job there to keep her busy while her boys were in school.
When she and her husband split up, Anton returned to work full time. Coincidentally, the head of circulation position at Bowman became available at around the same time when Ann White left the branch and transferred to Handley Library in Wi******er, where she is now deputy director.
Anton served as Bowman's head of circulation and outreach coordinator until 2021, when she was promoted to branch manager. She said it took her a while to warm up to an administrative management position, so she made a point of "going out on the floor every now and then and talking to people."
Anton said she still loves her job and hates to leave, but a recent epiphany made her realize the time had come to retire.
"I went to five funerals this spring and I thought, 'You know what? Life is too short,'" Anton said. "I would probably be here forever except for that little revelation this year."
She admitted, though, that she won't miss being on call 24/7 as the top dog at Bowman Library.
Cheryl Nakagawa, Handley Regional Library System's public relations and marketing manager, said Friday will be bittersweet for Anton.
"We're going to have to drag her out of here," Nakagawa joked.
"I love this job," Anton said. "I love this life."
But Anton also loves the idea of having more time to spend with her family, including a 1-month-old grandson who lives in Middletown with one of her sons and her other two grandchildren.
Anton's other son lives in Michigan, so visiting him more often is also on her retirement to-do list.
"I want to travel," Anton said. "I'd love to do a river cruise in Europe."
Before she ventures off to Europe, though, Anton anticipates making several trips south.
"All my siblings are in North Carolina, about 15 miles from each other, and four of them are in their 80s now, so I want to be able to spend some time down there, too," said Anton, the youngest of six kids. "But I'm not moving. My grandchildren are here."
Something she'll miss when she leaves Bowman is issuing children their first library card. Anton said she remembers how her own son beamed with excitement when he turned 5 and got his, "and I see that look every time a child gets a library card. �That's near and dear to my heart."
There may soon be a permanent reminder of Anton's time at Bowman. One of the projects she had hoped to undertake during her tenure was the opening of a teen room at the library, an initiative that got a major boost in 2021 with a $100,000 donation.
"The $100,000 was seed money [for the teen room], so we need to raise the rest of it," Anton said. "We're much closer than we were, but I'm sad that I won't be here to see it happen. I'll come back [to visit] when we have it. I know it's going to happen soon because we have the plans and much more of the money now."
No matter where Anton goes or what she does, Bowman will always be in her blood because of all the cherished memories she made there.
One of those memories involves the library's outdoor amphitheater that opened three years ago. Anton said she was thrilled when the Frederick County Parks and Recreation Department created the entertainment venue next to the lake behind the library.
"The first performance we had [in June 2023], I was watching the geese on the lake and the [purple] martins fly," she recalled. "There was music [performed by Bluegrass Posse] and kids were playing lawn games. �I just stood there and thought, 'This is a dream come true.'"
