Friends of the Library

Phyllis Dirksen

Phyllis Dirksen has served as a Board Member since 1993 and was FPCPL Treasurer for five years. Previously she worked with the Membership Committee and is active with the online sales team. Phyllis, born and reared in rural northwestern Illinois, completed her BA at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. While attending college she met and married Robert. They began their teaching careers in Illinois moving later to Colorado. Phyllis attended the Library School of Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. After completing her MA in Library Science, she served for twenty-two years at Vineland Middle School in Pueblo, Colorado. She continued work toward a degree in Educational Media during this time.

After retirement, Phyllis and Robert  moved to northwest Tucson. She substituted as a school librarian for six years. Phyllis joined the Friends at the 1992 Book sale at El Con Mall and has worked each sale since that time.

Kathryn Baron

Kathryn Baron is a retired Architect and Travel Agent. She has resided in Tucson where she has practiced Architecture for 30 years since graduating from the University of  Arizona College of Architecture in the ‘60’s. With her love of travel, she takes several trips each year to walk and hike in the US and Europe.  She is also an active member of Soroptimist International of Desert Tucson, a women’s classified service organization.

She currently serves as Board Secretary, Facilities/Real Estate Committee Chair and volunteers at the Book Barn and works books sales. 

Mary Carryer

Mary Carryer is serving as Treasurer of the Board. Mary is a retired banking executive who moved to Tucson with her husband from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007. She has an MBA in Finance from the University of California at Berkeley and has lived in Europe, Canada, Australia and Hawaii.

She and her husband enjoy discovering Tucson, travel, hiking and reading.

David Ellington

David Ellington joined the Friends Board in 2006 after working with the online sales group and enjoying the success that effort has had in raising funds for the library.  He retired from UBS Financial Services after years as a stock broker.  David and his wife Donna are long time residents of Tucson; deciding to live here after David served at Davis Monthan Air Force Base during the Vietnam War.

Norma Gambrell

Norma Gambrell was born and educated in London, England and arrived in Tucson forty years ago as a military wife. She retired  as a VP in the Trust Department of Wells Fargo Bank after serving there for 27 years. Norma is an experienced volunteer.  She was trained and certified by the State of Arizona as a tour guide at Kartchner Caverns, where she volunteered for 4 years. She currently volunteers at the Tucson Visitors Center.  Norma became aware and involved with FPCPL in 1994 and now schedules cashiers for the book sales as well as working many shifts herself. She works most of the off site sales and also serves on two committees.  Norma became a Board Member in 2004 and hopes to be involved in increasing future revenues for FPCPL.

Desha Hill

Desha Hill was born and raised in New York City and spent 32 years in Northern California working in public real estate for a variety of state and city agencies. She and her husband moved to Tucson two years ago when they retired. They have five grown children and two cats. The cats live with them, the children don't. Desha is passionate about adventures in strange places, finds archaeology fascinating, and spends a lot of time reading all manner of things. She has volunteered at Friends book sales and in the warehouse since moving to Tucson and is delighted to have joined the board. She served as Vice-President, and was elected Board President in 2012.

Rebecca McCarthy

Rebecca McCarthy joined the Board in 2006 and served as Board President from 2009-2012. She fell in love with Tucson during high school and ended up moving from her hometown of Columbus, Ohio.  She currently holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Management Information Systems from the Eller College of Management, The University of Arizona.  Rebecca currently works as an Engineering Project Manager at Tucson Electric Power Company.  Rebecca and husband Patrick have lived in Tucson 20 years and enjoy reading, scuba diving and hiking.

Libby Stone

Libby Stone is the Managing Director for the Friends, hired in May 21, 2007. This is her first experience working with a Friends group and feels that the organization is to be commended for its commitment and dedication to such a worthy cause.

Libby’s been in Tucson for 21 years and is definitely at home here.  She was raised in southeast Missouri, went to college in western Kentucky, and moved to Nashville after graduation. She eventually moved west, found Tucson, and has been here since. Past jobs include Executive Director for the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association, Community Relations for the University of Arizona, and owning her own business.

She enjoys helping the Friends grow and increasing library support.

Linda Primavera

  Linda Primavera started volunteering for the Friends of the Pima County Library in 2009  joined the Board in 2011.  She is currently serving as Board Vice President and chair of the Warehouse Committee. She moved to Tucson in 1979 shortly after IBM opened its new development lab here.  She worked as a technical writer and Engineering Manager for more than 30 years and retired in 2009.  She has a BA in Spanish and Sociology and lived and worked in Madrid for a year after graduating from college. She is passionate about reading, traveling, and many other activities.

Lori Mares

Lori was born and raised in New England, moving out west to go to college at NMSU where she earned her BS in Personell Management. After 16 years of Retail Store Management with Dillards, Lori has been settled into Residential Real Estate Sales for almost 7 years.

As a volunteer of Friends since October of 2011, Lori has worked Warehouse, Book Sales, Library Book Cart and was elected to the Board starting in July 2012. Her favorite part of the experience with Friends - Meeting a diverse group of people as excited about reading as she is, while raising money for the Public Libraries!

Lori Menella

Lori Mennella (CPA) comes to the Friends on a path which started with being a daughter of a librarian and a former naval veteran working for the space program, through many addresses which included stops for a history degree from the College of William and Mary as well as an accounting degree from Northern Virginia.  She has served in several community positions ranging from a former officer with the American Society of Women Accountants and with lesbian organizations in Washington DC to a grant writer for the El Cortez Heights Neighborhood Association and the former Treasurer of the Pima County/Tucson Women's Commission.  She has worked on feminist and health issues as an accountant for the national NOW office, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the American Cancer Society, the Pima County Office of Indigent Health, and the University of Arizona Department of Nutritional Sciences.  Lori is semi-retired and is volunteering in the Friends warehouse when not taking classes, cooking, rearranging the house, spoiling her cats and answering financial questions.

Reilly Zoda

Reilly moved to Tucson, with her sister Eileen Swenson, in 1999.   An East Coast native, she’d spent 4 years in Saudi Arabia, working in the NICU at King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh.  There she learned that she liked the desert climate and Tucson seemed a natural choice.  She and Eileen bought a home in 2000 and in 2001 started a small in-home Bed and Breakfast, The Sonoran Respite.

 In October of 2010 she retired from Tucson Medical Center after 25 years as a Neonatal ICU Nurse.  An avid bibliophile, she showed up at the Friends soon after and started working at the Bray Building, managing the History Section a week later.  Reilly still takes care of the stocking of the History sections and several others of the non-fiction areas as well as co-managing the Bray Sale operation with Glenda Leaderer.

Her interest in History is balanced with a love of crafts.  Reilly is president of the Tucson Quilters Guild for 2013-2015.  She’s as passionate about her quilting as she is about books and is enjoying a very busy retirement.

Margie Sinagra

Margie was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA.  She spent over twenty years working for the Federal Government in the Department of Defense (International Security Affairs in Washington, D.C., and NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium) among other postings, and the Department of Justice in Pittsburgh, PA.  She also worked in private industry and San Diego State University.  She started volunteering with the Friends soon after her move to Tucson. Her life-long passions are reading and travel, and the last few years she has become interested in genealogy.  She is an avid Steeler fan, and is old enough to remember when the Pirates actually won games.