For Pet's Sake Column

The story reads like a mystery novel: in the wee hours of a bitter cold January morning in 1988, someone shoved a parcel down the book return slot outside the Public Library in Spencer , Iowa . When the library staff opened the bin later that morning, they were shocked at what they found amid the pile of books. It turns out that the package wasn’t a book at all, but a kitten. Librarian, Vicki Myron, brought the freezing feline inside, warmed him up, and gave him something to eat. In return, the kitten purred his thanks. As Vicki gazed into the tiny tabby’s amber colored eyes, she knew he’d make a great library cat.

“From day one, we felt he’d be the right personality for the public,” Vicki remembers.

The kitten was neutered and vaccinated and after receiving approval from the library’s board of trustees and the city council, he was officially added to the library staff. Now there was only one thing left to do: choose a name for the new “employee.” The library held a contest and, after reading more than 350 entries, the staff chose the moniker “Dewey Readmore Books” (after the Dewey Decimal System, which most libraries use to catalog books).

As the tale of Dewey’s rescue spread, so did his fame. Residents of Spencer often stopped by the library just to visit the friendly feline. Over the years, he appeared in many local and national publications and television crews from as far away as Japan came to film Dewey. His job description included enthusiastically greeting library patrons, providing stress relief, inspecting all incoming packages (including backpacks, boxes, and briefcases) for security problems and comfort level, and sleeping, well, just about everywhere. While Dewey never met a lap he didn’t like, he was extremely finicky about the foods he ate. He eschewed traditional cat cuisine; preferring instead to sample scrambled eggs, cheeseburgers, boiled ham, and chicken garlic TV dinners.

Now for the final chapter of the story: Dewey checked out of the library on November 29 after a brief illness. Vicki, who cradled Dewey in her arms during the last few moments of his life, says the library now feels empty without his loving presence.

“I miss everything about Dewey,” she wrote in an email message to me recently. “I miss him waving his paw on the front window at me as I came across the street and up to the entry. I miss him begging for new food because he didn’t like what flavor I had chosen for breakfast that day. I miss his frequent visits to my office just to check to see if I was at my desk, and I miss him sitting on the front counter greeting each new customer like a long-lost friend.”

For 19 years, this tabby of the tomes brought joy to so many residents in Spencer , Iowa and beyond. Since his passing, the library has received dozens of sympathy cards and phone calls, several floral arrangements, and hundreds of email messages; proof that even the smallest of creatures has the ability to touch people’s lives in a profound way. Dewey, may your final resting place be filled with batches of books, sunny spots to sleep and, of course, oodles of chicken garlic TV dinners.

Ciao, dear friend.

Vicki Myron welcomes your condolence letters. Send a message to her at vickim@spencerlibrary.com or email Karen at karenleestevens@cox.net.