By Ron Hayes
LANTANA — The Friends of the Lantana Public Library has about 150 dedicated members, but all would agree that when Sid Patchett died on Sept. 18, that library lost its best friend.
And he didn’t even live in Lantana.
Five days a week, from September 1996 when he was named its director until earlier this year, Mr. Patchett commuted from his home in Miami’s Coconut Grove, working to offer in quality what the little town library couldn’t provide in quantity.
“Our shelf space is so limited we can’t hold more than 24,000 volumes,” he would say, “so we don’t stock multiple copies of the bestsellers. We use our limited budget to create the thinking person’s library.”
As the motto atop the library’s website boasts, this is “A Place For Serious Readers.”
Instead of a dozen new Stephen King novels, Mr. Patchett bought The Princeton Guide to Evolution. Every library has Wilkie Collins’ classic Victorian mystery, The Moonstone, but Mr. Patchett bought the author’s lesser known works as well.
He was partial to anything published by The University of Florida Press and made sure the magazine collection included The New York Review of Books.
At the Sept. 23 Town Council meeting, Mayor Dave Stewart called for a moment of silent prayer in Mr. Patchett’s memory.
“Sid made the library what it is today,” the mayor said, “and he will be sadly missed.”
Friends of the Library President Teresa Wilhelm praised Mr. Patchett’s management and vision.
“The Lantana Public Library is a one-of-a-kind institution, and so was its director,” she said. “Leading a team of faithful volunteers is no easy task. However, Mr. Patchett was able to keep things moving along on a daily basis like a well-oiled machine. His admiration of literature produced the bountiful and varied collection of books in our library.”
Sidney Arthur Patchett came to Lantana from his birthplace in Utica, New York after a long and exotic journey.
While earning a degree in Latin American history at the University of Miami, he worked as a page at the Miami Public Library, then receive his degree in library science from Florida State University in 1968.
Joining the Peace Corps after graduation, he was sent to St. Lucia to set up a teachers college library there. On St. Lucia, he spotted an ad for a library on Papua, New Guinea, and spent three years at the University of Papua from 1975-78, then went on to Malawi, where he met his wife, Katrina “Trina” Patchett.
After eight more years in New Guinea, he returned to Florida and the University of Miami, where he earned a law degree in 1988, but never took the bar exam.
When the Carteret Savings & Loan collapsed in 1995, the town of Lantana bought the building at 205 W. Ocean Ave. The library, which had been run out of the women’s club, now had its own address, and Sid Patchett found his niche.
“It was really his cup of tea, a new library where he could start and build a collection,” Trina Patchett said. “He wanted it to be an excellent library with a wide range of titles.”
Mrs. Patchett declined to reveal a cause of death or her husband’s age. “Maybe it’s because I’m English,” she said, “but I just don’t think it’s necessary.”
In a 2015 interview, Mr. Patchett was asked if a library that values The Princeton Guide To Evolution over the latest Stephen King thriller might risk being called elitist.
“Probably!” he exclaimed. “And we don’t give a tinker’s dam. We don’t think it’s elitist. We think it’s an opportunity to serve upward-striving people.”
In addition to his wife, Mr. Patchett is survived by a brother, Michael Patchett of Black Mountain, North Carolina; and a niece, Chavela “Vela” Robin. He was predeceased by two sisters, Phyllis “Hiddy” Doren, and Judith “Dugan” Patchett.
The family plans a private celebration of his life.
Donations in Mr. Patchett’s memory may be made to the Friends of the Lantana Public Library, 205 W. Ocean Ave., Lantana, FL 33462.
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