For more than seven years there was a familiar face at the library at Col. John O. Ensor Middle School.  Since the opening day at Ensor in 2000, Val Guitarr spent her mornings volunteering at the library. Surrounded by middle school students, this 80-year-old was at Ensor every day offering a helping hand. Checking new shipments, setting up the bar codes and preparing all the books, Val was a valuable resource to the school and its staff until she began to lose her eyesight due to macular degeneration.  Because of this condition, the oldest volunteer in the district was unable to continue to do the work she loved to do at the school she loved.

“I think that being at Ensor gave her a reason to get up every morning,” says Pamela Thompson, Ensor librarian. “She was here since the beginning. All the books we have which are more than 20,000, Val got them ready for use.”

Thompson says Val’s impact was immediately noticed.

“She was priceless. We are realizing how much she freed us from time consuming tasks and allowed us to work with classes,” says Thompson. “She would always say ‘A hug a day, a smile a day will get you through the day.”

To recognize the vital role she had at the Ensor library, the librarians throughout the Socorro ISD have dedicated the Star on the Franklin Mountain on January 26, 2007 in her honor. Val will also become the first member in the Friends of the Library, which was created to recognize those individuals like Val who helped school libraries become an enriching and educational environment for all students.