Oh, hell. I just saw an obituary for Marian McTrusty. She was only 35, a Children’s Service Librarian at the Cedar Park Library.
I knew Marian just a little. She’d received a small grant last year and used it to bring in local writers to speak to students in a reading group she ran.
I talked to them one Saturday morning that was bright and windy. It was a small group of sweet, interested students who gathered that morning. They asked me questions about my books and I read a few excerpts. Marian sat at the end of the table, nodding and smiling. To her, writers were rock stars. She loved meeting us, she told me.
My friend, Cynthia Leitich-Smith, a well-known young-adult and children’s author, just spoke to this group the day before Marian’s death. She commented on how lively the group was and how everyone clearly adored Marian. Marian: the kind of person who did much more than her job, who went out of her way to encourage a love of reading in the teenagers she met through her work.
Marian McTrusty was one of those people you don’t read about in a world of overnight millionaires and fired CEOs and political sex scandals and pampered heirs and heiresses. She found her calling in life and pursued it with great enthusiasm. With her death, writers and readers alike lost a good friend.
I saw the notice in the newspaper also, but in Marian’s hometown of Ashtabula, Ohio….I went to high school with Marian, and was very saddened to learn of her death. Does anyone know what happened to Marian?
diana kreger
As Marian’s sister it is very heartening to read how she touched other people’s lives the way she touched our family. We will miss her wit, kindness and generosity more than I can say. Thank you so much for recognizing her gifts and talent.
There was no apparent cause of death so we will have to wait for the autopsy report before we know anything. In the long run I guess it doesn’t really matter because it won’t change the fact that I lost one of my best friends.
Jeanne Fisher, Cincinnati
I really love this article because Marian treated a lot of people like rock-stars: she made people feel loved, smart, and important. She always did her own thing, she was always true to herself, and she was unique. The world needs more people like Marian. She never judged a person by the way they looked or how much money they had. Instead she was compassionate. She stood up for what she believed in. She was truly good.
To Diana, it doesn’t matter how Marian died…the world has lost someone truly good.
To Jeanne, I am so sorry you have lost a sister and your best friend. I know how much Marian loved you.
I worked closely with Marian for several years at Covington Catholic High School. She was so kind and so genuine. She absolutely adored children. My children always loved to visit her in the school library. She was a true blessing to me. Jeanne, know that you, your family, and Marian are in my prayers.
God Bless,
Bob Lind
Oh my God! Marian has been in my thoughts for a while, today I decided to do a search to find out about her whereabouts…I went to school with her (if she´s the same one) at TWU when we worked on our M.L.S. She and I became very close during that time, Aug.1999 to Aug.2000. Unfortunately after that I lost track of her and tried contacting her through other classmates but with no luck. I remember meeting her dad, a Dr. and her mom, a dietitian, for our graduation in August. Although I live in Guatemala, C.A. I would like to express my deepest sympathy for her loss to her parents and family…I hold fond memories of Marian, always helpful and a dear friend! May she rest in peace!