ROCHELLE — Connie Avery loved gnomes, frogs, reading, St. Bernard dogs, University of Illinois sports, growing pumpkins, reading, and the color green. 

All of those things adorned a memorial mural that was dedicated to Avery, affectionately known as Miss Connie, on Thursday, Nov. 21 in the children’s department at the Flagg-Rochelle Public Library during Family Reading Night. 

Avery was the assistant library director and the youth services director at the library for 25 years. She retired at the end of 2021. She passed away on Feb. 2, 2023 at age 71. She worked in libraries for 47 years. Flagg-Rochelle Public Library Director Sarah Flanagan spoke at the dedication on Thursday. 

“After her funeral, I began thinking about what I'd like to do for a memorial to Miss Connie,” Flanagan said. “I wanted something that would have a lasting impression in our building. Something in our children's department where she worked for so many years.” 

The mural was painted by Catherine Urban of The Urban Art Studio. Flanagan spoke with Urban, staff members and the library board and a design was finalized. 

“We wanted something that had some meaning,” Flanagan said. “Things that reminded us of Miss Connie. This brought our staff together and helped us get through that time and allowed us to talk about the good times we shared with her.”

Staff members recalled Avery’s favorite books; her love for her alma mater, Eastern Illinois University; and her love of flamingos and glitter. She loved chocolate. Hot fudge pudding cake was her favorite dessert. Everyone at the library always got to have that dessert when it was one of her St. Bernard’s birthdays. Avery rescued St. Bernards for over 40 years. 

Avery also loved Tootsie Rolls. She had an accordion named Eileen that she learned to play. She enjoyed listening to Mike Snyder's polka music and she hired him for his first children's polka concert, and she and Flanagan spent many hours together writing 'The Dewey Decimal Polka'. That song was played at the dedication Thursday. 

Flanagan thanked Urban for her work on the mural on Thursday. During the hours she painted it, Flanagan and staff members told her stories about Miss Connie, so she knew who she was painting it for. 

“Everything that you and the staff here told me about Miss Connie and what she loved and who she was, I felt like I could really feel her as I was painting,” Urban told Flanagan during the dedication. “She must have been great.”

Avery volunteered and was involved with the Community Action Network, her church, the Franklin Creek Conservation Association and the EIU Alumni Association. For the years ahead, stories will be read to children in front of the mural that honors her. 

“She loved reading and was a professional storyteller,” Flanagan said. “She was a master at her craft. If you ever heard her tell 'Wes the Mess', or 'The Widemouthed Frog', you know what I'm talking about.”

After the dedication, Tootsie Rolls and miniature frogs and gnomes were passed out to remember Miss Connie by. Those items won’t last for the coming years in the library, but her mural will.

“She was a true professional and shared her skills with all of us,” Flanagan said. “They say a picture is worth 1,000 words, and I'd say this picture describes Miss Connie perfectly. We'd like to dedicate this mural in memory of Connie and I know that it will be an enjoyable lasting memory of her for years to come.”