Sophia Isaac is head of volunteers at the J. Turner Moore Memorial Library in Manalapan. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Christine Davis
What do super-organized volunteers get? More work! But that’s OK with Sophia Isaac, head of volunteers at the J. Turner Moore Memorial Library in Manalapan.
“I’m such a book person, if you like. Communication, articulation and knowledge fascinate me and has dominated my life,” says Isaac. “When my husband, Peter, and I moved here, I started to volunteer at the library. Manalapan is a great little town and the library is the community center and heart of the social scene.”
That was a few years ago, when Mary Ann Kunkle was librarian. “I like things to be organized, and the lady who was head of volunteers, Eileen Hunt, was standing down at the time,” Isaac explains. “She did a fabulous job and no one volunteered to take her place.” So at that point, Kunkle asked Isaac to head up the volunteers.
It’s hard to say just how much time organizing takes, Isaac says, because the library is open during season only three mornings a week and during the summer, it’s open only on Friday mornings. However, during season someone has to open the library on Saturday mornings (that would be Isaac); someone has to assist the librarian with checking books in and out (that would be Isaac or one of the six on her volunteer committee); and someone has to set up for library evenings on Thursdays (ditto).
Currently, there are three speakers scheduled for the remainder of the library’s lecture series: On Feb. 21, angler and former Channel 12 reporter Tom Twyford will speak on environmental enhancement efforts in the Lake Worth lagoon; in March (date is not set yet), Chris Papatheodorou will make a presentation on Mount Athos; and on April 11, sports fishing enthusiast A.C. Brooks will speak about his books, including Foul Hooked and Dead on the Dock. The time is set at 6 p.m.
For speakers, “The committee and I ask our residents to make suggestions, and we will look to see what’s possible and make the call,” Isaac says. Same goes for what books are bought.
Also, she and her committee members figure out what books to decommission and they arrange to sell them along with donated books at the annual book sale on March 16. Proceeds go to the library.
Everyone is welcome at the library’s book club meetings on the third Wednesday of the month at 3 p.m. year-round — a committee member is in charge of it. Movie night is at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7, March 7 and April 4. This year, the work of Alfred Hitchcock is featured. “Since the new movie came out about Hitchcock’s life, we thought it would be interesting to look at one director, and access what he’s done,” she says.
In addition to her library work, Isaac sings soprano at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in West Palm Beach; she’s on the board and a member of Les Girls, which has members from 40 different countries (Isaac is from England); she’s a member of a French-speaking luncheon group; and she has been active in Red Cross.
Isaac, in her early 60s, has worked as a human resource professional and interior designer. Although she’s not a great sports enthusiast (the sports-fishing talk was not her suggestion, although she thought it was a good idea), she enjoys swimming and walking. When she’s not busy doing all these things, she likes to visit a daughter, who lives in Vero Beach, and her other children — two daughters and son — who live in London.
You may also find her reading poetry. She highly recommends her recent read, The 100-Year-Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson.
Town Clerk Lisa Peterson has served as library director since last year, taking over for Kunkle who stepped down after 15 years. “I don’t know what I would do without Sophia,” Peterson says. “She’s invaluable. She’s wonderful, has a great personality and is good to work with.”
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