Carol Ann Engskov passed away on February 6. Our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones. She will be greatly missed.
She was the long-time director of the Berryville Library, from 1983 to 2011. After her retirement, she remained a passionate advocate for the library and channeled her tremendous energy into being an active member of the Friends board as their historian.
Carol Ann hired me for my first job nearly 18 years ago. It was actually a volunteer position for the summer at the library, and I was tremendously nervous about the whole thing. However, Carol was always kind and encouraging to me, with a keen sense of humor, and I was both surprised and delighted when she extended my volunteer commitment past the summer and then hired me the following spring.
She often called me “dear,” and she always had the best reading recommendations. We both shared a taste for mysteries and crime fiction with a literary bent, and I learned very quickly that when Carol Ann recommended something to me, it was worth reading. I have written on here several times about liking Scandinavian mysteries, and Carol Ann was why. She handed me a Karin Fossum novel one day, and told me, “Dear, I think you’ll like this.” And I did. She also introduced me to Jussi Adler-Olsen—she would always excitedly tell me “Jussi wrote another book!” when a new title in his Department Q series came out—and Louise Penny and the show Endeavour, among many other books, movies, and TV shows.
Even after she retired, Carol Ann maintained a keen interest in the library and the library staff, and she was always thoughtful and generous with us. She was a wonderful baker in general and made especially amazing fudge, both chocolate and peanut butter. Even newbies who’d never worked with Carol Ann quickly learned that the announcement she had brought fudge was a sign you better drop what you were doing and scurry to the back to grab some while it lasted. Even after Carol Ann’s health had started to fail and she herself could no longer eat her baking, she still brought the staff fudge. We told her she didn’t have to do that, but she insisted that she wanted to. She also loved to give gifts, and every morning, I drink out of a beautiful llama mug she got me one year. As she explained when she gave it to me, “Dear, I knew you liked llamas.”
A few years after her retirement, when the Friends formed with an end-goal of building a new library, a longtime dream of Carol Ann’s, she was immediately all in. Carol Ann could always be counted on to bake for bake sales and help with events, whether it was working a shift at the ice cream social in sweltering Arkansas heat or donating items for sales. She also baked fudge and other goodies for our Friends meetings, so we would have something to snack on while we planned fundraisers. Last fall, when we did the pie sale, I didn’t ask Carol Ann to bake because she was under hospice care by then. Ordinarily, she would have been my first call for a volunteer baker, but I didn’t feel that would be right to impose on her at that time. Nevertheless, she still baked and brought amazing homemade pies to us, with a note that she was sorry she couldn’t make more.
Carol Ann was a wonderful boss, coworker, volunteer, friend, and person. When our new library opens this summer, the children’s area will be named for her. The Friends raised money faithfully for years to pay for the right to name it in her honor. It is a perfect tribute to her. She loved encouraging children to read and love the library. For many Carroll County residents, Carol Ann was the physical embodiment of our library and our community, and it is only fitting that so many of the children she helped raise at storytimes are now bringing their own children to storytime. I am so glad that she was there when we broke ground last April and that she got to walk through the building under construction while she was able and see where the children’s room will be. But her absence will be felt greatly during the ribbon cutting, and she will be deeply missed every day.
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