In Remembrance of Eileen Sever
Eileen Sever was a beloved, respected and deeply valued Librarian, who passed away on August 2, 2023. When asked what kept her going as a Librarian, she said, “I love questions.”
Eileen’s formal work history for LAPL was supplied by the Human Resources Office:
- March 30, 1970 hired as an Intermittent Librarian
- October 14, 1974 status change to half-time Librarian in the Business & Economics Department
- April 4, 1977 appointed Senior Librarian in the Business & Economics Department
- November 26, 1979 transferred to Palms Rancho Park, Senior Librarian
- March 18, 1998 retired
- July 6, 1999 through April 29, 2022 she returned as a rehire, substitute Librarian.
- April 30, 2022 her employment with LAPL ended.
On March 18, 2020 Los Angeles Public Library employees were sent home, hoping to return to work in two weeks. What followed were the nascent, volatile days of the COVID pandemic. We were working from home and during April 2020 several of us started “A Poetry Exchange,” something akin to chain letters, instead poems would be passed on to others. Julie Huffman shared that email with Eileen and what follows is her response:
“Dear Julie, Much as I love you, I have to decline this lovely invitation. I have never been sustained by any poetry and have no feel for it whatsoever. Tried hard to conjure up something from college days. An incident did occur to me. The German prof was a dapper, austere little guy. We each had to memorize a poem and recite it to him over coffee, to which we were each invited separately. There is a famous sonnet written by Goethe as he lay in bed with an Italian girlfriend and in this poem he describes tapping the rhythm out on her bare behind. One of my fellow students bet me that I couldn’t recite it to the prof and keep a straight face. I think the sum of $5 got mentioned there somewhere. I still don’t know how I did it, but I did. The prof quickly figured out what was going on and he too didn’t flinch. That’s the only poem that has represented something in my life. I don’t think it fits the bill here. I hate not to be a team player. By the way, at the moment I’m completely well thanks to a new treatment with an esoteric drug. Am plugging away with Genealogy. Just yesterday, on 23 and me, two surprise out of wedlock daughters of a certain unhappily married cousin surfaced. They are unrelated to each other, and fascinated to find family. Hugs to all. Again I apologize. E.”
Eileen Sever said, “I love questions,” and her response to Julie’s question/invite to participate in our poetry project is a snapshot of who she was. She was politely candid about not having any affinity for poetry, but despite that, as an engaged and abiding researcher, she dredged up an amusing, mischievous anecdote from her college days, which included some saucy details. In that entire email there is only one sentence referring to her ongoing health battle, and that was about “an esoteric drug.” So cancer be damned! And it gets pushed to the back shelf of Eileen’s life, because there are far more interesting subjects which have engaged her mind, her curiosity and her life—genealogical research that unearthed some unwed daughters who “are unrelated to each other, and fascinated to find family.”
Her Facebook page is bursting with loving comments and remembrances about a woman who was fascinated by life, therefore fascinated by all kinds of people. For we the living, death has created an empty place in our lives. Eileen’s life was generous in years, and in all that time she was consistently generous in spirit and deed, and so is her daughter Anita, who has agreed to share an autobiographical memoir written by Eileen. This document provides an abundance of information about Eileen’s life and is illustrative of her candor, wit, humor, insights and wisdom. We include some personal photographs. To quote Julie Huffman, “This is gold.” As it is for Eileen’s family and for all of us.
— Sheryn Morris, Reference Librarian II, Literature & Fiction Department
— Julie Huffman, Genealogy Librarian III, History & Genealogy Department
