UPDATE:
A celebration of the the life of Clara Mounce will be held Thursday, January 5, at 2 p.m. at Callaway-Jones Funeral Center at 3001 South College in Bryan. Guests are invited to stay afterwards for a time of remembrance and refreshments.
Original story:
The namesake of Bryan’s public library has died.
Clara B. Mounce worked 30 years at the downtown library until her retirement in 2009. Two weeks after her retirement, the Bryan city council voted to change the name in her honor.
On WTAW’s The Infomaniacs, Bryan deputy city manager Joey Dunn said Mounce, who created the Bryan/College Station library system, was “a community icon” “who made a difference in so many ways”.
Funeral services have not been announced.
Click below for comments from Joey Dunn, visiting with WTAW’s Scott Delucia:
Statement from the city of Bryan:
Today our community lost Clara B. Mounce, the influential librarian that positively impacted the lives of many and for which the City of Bryan’s public library is named after. She began her career with the City of Bryan on March 1, 1978 and continued to serve as the Director of the Bryan+College Station Library System until her retirement on December 31, 2009.
In her service of more than 30 years, Mrs. Mounce brought together the Bryan and College Station libraries to successfully form the Bryan+College Station Library System. Her tenacity brought welcomed improvements and enhanced services offered at each of the libraries. In the 1990s, the Bryan Public Library was devastated by an arson fire and she was instrumental in ensuring the facility reopened. Furthermore, Mrs. Mounce served an important role in restoring the Carnegie History Center to its original luster.
After announcing her upcoming retirement in 2009, the Bryan City Council voted to rename the Bryan Public Library to Clara B. Mounce Public Library in her honor on January 10, 2010. The library’s name was officially changed on the building with a public celebration on April 28, 2010.
Deputy City Manager Joey Dunn shared, “The entire City of Bryan family is deeply saddened at Mrs. Mounce’s passing. Her strong advocacy to improve the library system of Bryan and College Station will always be remembered and appreciated.”
At this time, service information has not yet been released.
According to a May 2009 story in The Eagle, city officials said Mounce was hired in 1978 as the associate City of Bryan librarian shortly after visiting the Bryan library looking for job vacancies in the area.
Three years later, she was promoted to the head of the library. In 1987, the City of Bryan and College Station signed an interlocal contract for Bryan to administer a library in College Station. At that time, Mounce became the community librarian.
At the time she announced her retirement, she oversaw three libraries in the Bryan-College Station Public Library System.
She was also active in the design and construction of the storefront library in 1987, as well as the new Larry J. Ringer Library, which opened in 1998.
Mounce told The Eagle among her greatest accomplishments was the restoration of the 106-year old Carnegie Library in downtown Bryan.
She also helped acquire a $100,000 grant from the Gates Foundation that paid for a lab at the Bryan Library and additional public access computers in all three of the libraries, according to the city.
And Mounce oversaw the restoration of the Bryan Public Library after an arsonist set fire to the building in 1995.