LIVERMORE FALLS – Doris DeMillo volunteered thousands of hours during her 22 years at the Treat Memorial Library. She was remembered Thursday for always being upbeat, ready for a good laugh and dedicated to serving library patrons.

DeMillo, 84, died Wednesday of cancer, her daughter, Sharon LaBrecque said.

“She was a very independent woman, a strong woman,” LaBrecque said. “She loved people. She was always ready to go somewhere.”

Library Director Fran Goodine remembers how DeMillo came to volunteer in 1987.

“One day she just came and said, ‘Do you guys need any help here?'” Goodine said.

DeMillo committed herself then to do what she could to help out.

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“After several years she became an aide and substitute and got paid for some of her hours,” Goodine said.

DeMillo, who didn’t drive, moved to Livermore Falls from Jay some years after her husband died to be closer to the downtown and people. She could walk to the library from her apartment on Depot Street and did so most days unless the weather was bad. Then someone gave her a ride.

“She just enjoyed the people and it was a good way to keep up with what was going on in town,” Goodine said. “She was very faithful about it. It was convenient for her. It was convenient for us, and I think the patrons enjoyed seeing her smiling face when they came into the library. She knew a lot of people and enjoyed talking to them. She was always upbeat and cheerful and loved a good joke.”

DeMillo was always seated a table near the door to the library and most always was working on a stack of books.

“It was her station. It was easy for her to work at the desk and to keep her finger on what was going on, if we were busy,” Goodine said. “She definitely volunteered thousands of hours, probably millions but I wouldn’t dare say that.”

DeMillo spent hours processing books, both new and those donated. She verified orders and when the library started to use bar codes, she would put the code on and prepare it for others to enter into the computer database.

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She also put books away and organized shelves.

“She would keep the children’s books in the correct places,” Goodine said.

And, when her only great-grandson, Addison, was around, DeMillo was in her glory.

Not driving didn’t stop her mother from going places, LaBrecque said. She would organize trips, mostly geared to senior citizens, and they traveled to different places in the United States and Europe.

“She was a strong advocate of the library and reading,” LaBrecque said. “We all love to read.”


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