Cheryl Costello-Pelkey's
Windsor Locks Library Story

My name is Cheryl Costello-Pelkey and I was the Dept. of CT Veterans of
Foreign Wars Auxiliary president in 2025-2026.

As part of our Americanism program, each year the Dept. Auxiliary presents
an American Flag on behalf of the current Dept. Auxiliary President.
As Dept. Auxiliary President, I choose the Windsor Locks Library as the
recipient of the flag. Because I am an avid reader, the library has been a
place that I have visited throughout my life and used my library card over
and over again. My last checkout receipt stated I have saved $1,380.65 this
year by using the library!

Since I was a child, my parents encouraged me to read. I remember
coming to the library when it was the former Swindell house. In 1962 a new
wing was added. When you entered the library, the children’s section was
to the right and the adult section was to the left of the librarian’s desk. I
read all the Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series.

At one point, the librarian used to restrict you to your own age group for
reading. I had to have my mother speak to them and give permission for
me to read above my age level.

Who remembers using the card catalog and looking up information in the
encyclopedias or in the archives for school reports?? How about coming
down after school to do book reports?

Many times when I was young, I read at night beneath my covers with a
flashlight. These days I still read in bed but I have a special light that goes
around my neck.

My parents have always been avid readers and often when I visited them, it
was quiet as all 3 of us had our noses in a book.

Now the library is more than just borrowing books. There are Ebooks,
Audiobooks, cultural programs, Storytime for all ages and all kinds of new
resources available to us.

​

I have worked in the past with the library on behalf of Smalley Brother’s
VFW Auxiliary and I anticipate continuing this partnership. I also look
forward to returning the books I’ve just read and checking out new ones!!

​