George O’Brien's wife Linda passed away from dementia. Linda was a kindergarten teacher, but later on became a librarian because of her love for books.
Linda thought of schools as the tree of life, and wanted books to be donated in her memory as a way to plant a seed to help the next tree grow. Now, George is carrying out her wish, donating books to the Lake Arthur Elementary library.
“We can plant a seed, we can take this everywhere because we all lose people in our lives, our loved ones," O'Brien said. "Flowers are soft and beautiful and comforting and temporary, but what I’m doing today is planting a seed for tomorrow in her name.”
O'Brien told KATC the donation of books is special because he used pocket change that Linda saved over the years for the purchase. With that pocket change, he was able to donate 23 books to the library. O'Brien says if Linda were here, she would be proud of him.
“She would share a tear with me of joy and it’s tough. She’s only been gone three months and consequently, it’s still fresh,” O'Brien explained.
Each book that O'Brien has donated, has a stamp in memory of Linda. O'Brien says this will not be the last donation in her memory.
“I will do this as I can and I won’t wait for 10 years of pocket change to do it,” O'Brien said.
O'Brien told KATC he hopes other people are inspired to donate books to their local school's library.
