Beth Vaughan Tribute

The library community received some sad news on the morning of August 22, 2006, when the Baltimore Sun reported that a Harford County storyteller and long-time library friend had passed away the previous Friday. Beth Vaughan had for many years volunteered her talents to the Harford County Public Library as a performer, storyteller, and director of the Upper Nodd players, a troupe of children who every summer produced a program based on myth, fairytale, legend, or literary work. Upper Nodd performances were regularly offered as programs for the library’s young patrons during the Summer Reading Program, but older folks found the creative plays enjoyable as well. In between those performances, Beth offered storytelling to children and adults alike.

She served on the Harford County Commission for Women, and her strong feelings for the cause of women urged her to recreate the persona of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, in period costume, presenting an entertaining and historically accurate portrayal of Stanton in her ongoing fight for women’s suffrage and equality. One year, during March, Women’s History Month, she and a library staff person presented a performance of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony reading excerpts from their many letters to each other, written over their long years of friendship.

Harford County library staff and patrons alike will miss Beth Vaughan, her humor, her talent, her entertaining storytelling, and her Upper Nodd performances. She enriched us all through her life and her works. -- submitted by library staff