Jeff S. Hall Photography
Retired Pickerington librarian, Colleen Bauman, has a backstory more intriguing than fiction.
You may know her from Pickerington Public Library where she worked in various roles for 26 years before retiring in September. However, you may not know how she became the face of the Pickerington Library.
Library lady
As a young girl, Bauman loved being in the library and spent her recess and free time there, stocking shelves and helping out in any way she could.
Living in Pickerington as a stay-at-home mom to two boys in the ‘90s, Bauman loved to take her younger son to Storytime at the library while the oldest was at school. During one of these read-aloud events, the youth librarian, who knew Bauman as a Sunday school teacher at their church, asked if she could lead a Storytime for her while she was on vacation.
Bauman agreed and eventually hosted more Storytimes before taking a part-time position, and later a full-time position at the library. While there, she worked under four directors and did everything from assisting visitors to updating computer software.
“It was a fun job to have, but it also felt like you had a purpose,” she says. “It’s the biggest social service all in one. You’re constantly helping and I like to help people, so connecting people with resources, helping them find what they need, not just in books, but just in general. I listen to people’s stories and figure out who they need to be connected to.”
Bauman says her favorite part of working at the Pickerington Public Library was connecting with the community and creating engaging programming such as a Harry Potter party that attracted 300-400 attendees. She was also integral in the birth of Violet the Cow, the library’s beloved mascot.
“(Violet is) our reading ambassador, and being able to take her out and about in the community and in parades and listen to kids say, ‘Oh, it’s the library cow!’ and ‘Love you, Violet,’ and ‘Why doesn’t your bell ring, Violet?’ and so we had all of these speaking points for the staff,” Bauman laughs.
Equality and fighting stigmas are very important to Bauman. When she saw the number of adults with disabilities who visited the library and had no programming specifically for them, she decided to change that. She took a training course at The Ohio State University and created the Next Chapter Book Club specifically for adults with disabilities.
“Libraries should be the hub of the community, they should be that place where everybody can connect,” she says. “Anybody can become isolated. This is their place where they are always accepted and everybody can find a place there. It doesn’t matter who they are, or what their economic situation is, the library is the place where they can be accepted.”
A perfect pair
Bauman and her three siblings were all adopted from different families as infants. When her parents divorced, she moved in with her father in Worthington Hills where she met her current husband, Bob.
Bob just so happened to also be adopted and lived on the same street as Bauman.
“It was kind of a fun thing that we just knew about each other and I remember when (his family) brought his little brother home,” Bauman says. “And (he remembers when) I took my little sister to show and tell when we got her because that was my baby doll.”
The two eventually grew apart after graduation and Bauman married and raised her two sons, Patrick and Jamie, with a different partner.
But, as fate would have it, they reconnected over social media years later after Bauman split from her first husband. Having known each other’s families and upbringing, it was easy for them to revert to the happy, playful kids they once were.
The two have since built a life together sharing their similar sense of humor and love of traveling. They have taken trips around the world including to Germany and Hawaii, and also own a condo in Florida.
Now that both are retired, Bauman and Bob recently moved into a house in Westerville to be closer to their young grandchildren, Micah and Ben, and Bauman’s mother.
“(Bob) inherited two grown sons when we got married and now we have grandchildren who think that Grand-Bob is the best thing ever,” Bauman says.
A whole new family
Around five years ago, Bauman’s birth certificate listing her birth mother’s name was unsealed. She decided to reach out to obtain her family’s medical history.
She used research tools at the library to find her biological mother’s address and sent a letter. Bauman’s half-brother wrote back, letting her know their mother lived in an assisted living facility and was experiencing symptoms of dementia. Unfortunately, Bauman’s father had passed away years before.
Her half-brother then showed the letter to Bauman’s half-sister who rejected the idea that they had a half-sibling. When they approached their uncle about it, he told them he had actually been looking for her and reached back out to Bauman.
Eventually, Bauman met her cousins, aunt and uncle for dinner in Indiana where they lived. Speaking with them she learned that coincidently her mother had also been a librarian all her life.
Now that she knew her biological family history, she found answers to many of the questions she’d had all her life. She has since stayed in touch with her biological family and she and Bob have even vacationed in Florida with them. They plan to get together more in the future and over the holidays.
“It’s a whole new family and you find out your whole history because you grow up and you think, ‘Are you Irish? Are you German? What are you?’” she says. “I grew up never knowing who I looked like, and now that I’ve had kids, (some say) ‘Your oldest really looks like you,’ He does, but he kind of looks like his dad, and now that I have pictures of my parents, he really looks like my dad,” she says.
Closing the chapter
Bauman looks back on her time in Pickerington fondly, as does the community. Over the years, Bauman has received awards and recognitions from the City and other civic organizations including a Key to the City. Her two sons grew up and graduated from Pickerington schools.
Jeff S. Hall Photography
As of 2024, the City of Pickerington recognizes Aug. 22 as Colleen Bauman Day.
“In Pickerington, faith is important and family is important. It was very nice to work in a community like that and live there,” she says. “I volunteered for years with the American Cancer Society and just seeing who was affected by things like that, there’s a lot of heart in Pickerington, there are a lot of volunteers, and they give back to their community, it’s important to them.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
