"As I think of Karen today, I am sad, but I smile because she left so many wonderful and happy memories." --Ida D. McGhee, MLS
Karen Rosemond DeLoatch (1956-2025)
I first met Karen Rosemond DeLoatch in August 1978 at Atlanta University, now Clark Atlanta University. We were both in the Library and Information Studies graduate school program and also in the same dormitory. Karen, from Flint, Michigan and myself, Hartford, Connecticut, we would always have a good laugh whenever students from the south complained about the cold or a mentioning of snow. Karen and I would say, you don't know what cold is until you have been out in frigid 12-degree weather, not to mention a foot of snow. Another common thread that Karen and I shared was that both our fathers had recently passed before attending AU and we were daddy's girls, fondly recalling childhood stories growing up.
Karen and I had several classes together, and even until her passing, we often joked about one of our favorite professors, Mr. James. Dr. James's class always would begin with him selecting a student and saying, "Miss Rosemond, walk me through …." Or Miss McGhee, walk us through…." One could not graduate from the program without one of Dr. James's rigid classes. Even though they were some of the toughest courses, I am positive that all of his students appreciated what we learned to this day to prepare us to work in a library.
I graduated from AU in May 1978 and Karen a few months later, at the end of August. We both returned to our home states to begin our professional library career.
In the summer of 1984, while I was sitting at the reference desk at the Hartford Public Library in Connecticut, who walks over but Karen Rosemond. She was in town because she had interviewed for a position at Hartford Community College, later renamed Capital Community College, now Connecticut Community College-Capital. Of course, she was hired and Karen remained at CCC until her retirement in May 2025.
We never lost touch since that day, and Karen even hired me as an adjunct librarian at Capital, where I remained until I retired from HPL and relocated to Rhode Island. Even after my move, Karen and I would talk for hours by phone or meet halfway between CT and RI for lunch that lasted for hours as we still joked about our painstaking AU classes. We both agreed we would never trade those days at AU, as it was the right library school and we could never forget the dean, Dean Virginia Lacy Jones, whom we all loved so much. She made sure that the AU program was just as good or not better than Emory's, the other library school in Atlanta at the time.
As I think of Karen today, I am sad, but I smile because she left so many wonderful and happy memories. I am forever grateful for such a friend and colleague. See Karen's obituary at: https://www.rosehillfuneralhomect.com/obituaries/Karen-Deloatch?obId=46604734
--Submitted by, Ida D. McGhee, MLS
-------------------------------------------------------------
In honor of the Sesquicentennial (150th Anniversary of ALA) in 2026, the Library History Round Table is hosting Librarians We Have Lost, Sesquicentennial Memories -1976-2026. This collage of tributes seeks to honor librarians who died between 1976-2026. The tributes are published to ALA Connect, a digital memorial on LHRT News & Notes, and ALA's institutional repository (ALAIR).
We invite tributes from anyone about any library worker who passed away between 1976-2026. To submit a tribute, please use the form at https://lhrt.news/librarians-we-have-lost-sesquicentennial-memories-1976-2026-2/
For questions or comments, please reach out to Dr. Kathleen McCook (kmccook@usf.edu) or Brett Spencer (dbs21@psu.edu).
------------------------------
Brett Spencer
Reference Librarian
Thun Library, Penn State Berks
He/Him/His
------------------------------