Tammie retires

Tammie Davidson’s retirement cake was sort of questionable.

“You’re fired,” it said, displaying a lot of colors.

But her library friends knew what they were doing.

“We said this to keep Tammie from crying,” said her three fellow library employees Kendra Hayes, Sharon Autry and Randi Strutton. Tammie was retiring and saying goodbye after 20 years of library leadership, of being fully committed to helping the public.

And so the “You’re fired” was a humorous ploy intended to help her laugh after all these years. It didn’t work. Tammie shed tears in the interview after the party. The tears came as she gave three main reasons she felt for the library.

First, she said, Atlanta’s library is a magnificent and interesting building. It’s a pleasant place to work with its three floors and shelves of knowledge.

“I love this building, and the people placed so much trust in us like a family. It’s just a huge part of your life.”

Second, Tammie as collections manager had physically touched every one of those books and placed the correct accession number on each.

Third, so many patrons from the elderly to the young, had placed faith in her and the staff to be of help or entertainment.

“Help others. That’s what a library is,” Tammie said. “If we’re not helping others, close us down.”

This is for the elderly or the young, she noted.

“When you are at home and have, perhaps, no place to go, you can come to the library, find a book, go home and be entertained.

“One of my favorite memories will be of that the child who comes to me in my office and asks for help finding a certain book. I’ll move heaven and earth to find it.”

And all of this for “free,” she added. Thus, the retirement party Friday for Tammie Davidson was a happy time even if she were fired.

Davidson said she would take a short break to re-locate to her daughter’s home in Conway, AR, then she and her husband Chip will become the pastoring family for The Church of Uncertain, in Uncertain, TX.