Act of Kindness for 102-Year-Old Ipswich Resident Doesn’t Go Unnoticed

Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a special place.  It has one of the best beaches in the country, more 1st period homes than any other town in America, a stone arch bridge that is the oldest in the country, and also had the first jail break in American history.

So, when I saw the Instagram post about what the Ipswich Library is doing for this centenarian, my heart melted.

The lovely library staff takes care of all of their patrons, as good librarians do.

Libraries are magical places.  I remember going up the stairs to the big brick building as a child, and looking up at the stacks and stacks of books in neat, orderly shelves.  Books were an escape for me, to worlds I hadn't experienced yet.  They made me dream and hope and feel known.  The library was a place where learning was fun and I could pick the topic.

In Ipswich, there is a client at the library who is 102 years old.  This elderly woman loves listening to eBooks, but was baffled when she couldn't find the recording for a childhood book her father used to read to her.

That's where a good library staff jumps in to the rescue.  This is what happened in Ipswich.  The staff got together and recorded a reading of the book for this elderly woman, who clearly still has her memory.

How adorable is that?  The kindness of the librarians is unwavering to the readers who regularly use the library, whether in person, or on the phone as this 102-year-old woman did.

I was so happy to learn about this act of kindness in Ipswich, Massachusetts, but alas.  The post I saw was definitely Ipswich, but not in Massachusetts.  The post was actually from the town Ipswich, Massachusetts is named after...Ipswich, England.

Many saw this post and thought of the North Shore town, as did I, but on either side of the pond, Ipswich seems like a mighty fine place to live.  Carry on.