Millennium Magazine_2ndEd

322 MILLENNIUM-SECOND EDITION A t a young age, Sharon Sappington would gather children in her neighborhood and read aloud to them. Interested in teaching and reading during these early years, she later completed coursework at Florida Southern College from 1962 to 1964 and earned a BA in education from the University of Florida in 1966. Thereafter, she was a fifth grade teacher at Tates Creek Elementary School in Lexington, Kentucky for two years prior to serving as a fourth grade teacher at Sadieville Elementary School for an additional year. In 1980, Ms. Sappington completed postgraduate coursework at the University of Alabama. For 18 subsequent years, she served as a library media specialist at A.H. Watwood Elementary School in Childersburg, Alabama before officially retiring from the industry in 1998. However, although she is in retirement, she maintains membership with the Tale Tellers of St. Augustine, from which she received an award for her lifelong contributions to the organization. Ms. Sappington has been serving as a librarian for the First United Methodist Church since 2003, having previously served Grace UnitedMethodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama as a circle chairman and Sunday school teacher. Equally passionate about her community, she has also been affiliated with the Alabama Chamber of Commerce, WBHM Public Broadcasting, Meals on Wheels, the Jaycees of Childersburg and Kiwanis International. She has also been associated with the American Association of University Women, the Alabama Library Association, People to People International, and the American Association of School Librarians. As a testament to her remarkable career, Ms. Sappington was presented with the Outstanding Youth Services Award from the Alabama Library Association in 1986. She subsequently received grants in the early 1990s. An avid 19th-century children’s book collector in her spare time, Ms. Sappington attributes her success to her lifelong love of reading and sharing of books in all forms. SHARON SAPPINGTON LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALIST (RETIRED) Talladega County Board of Education St. Augustine, FL