Priscilla (Pris) Pike, who died in November 2021, bequeathed a substantial gift to Forbes Library. Born in the hilltown of Chester, just north of Pittsfield, Pris moved to the Valley to attend UMass Amherst and Smith College. For four decades, she worked as a teacher at the Clark School on Round Hill. She was an active and longstanding member of the First Churches of Northampton.
Her most recent home in the Valley was at the Lathrop Community in Easthampton where she lived for a decade. A resident at that retirement community called her the “Mayor of the Inn,” because she was very intentional about welcoming new residents and checking in on their needs.
She was a book lover and participated in a memoir writing group at Lathrop. In her later years, she used a walker and was challenged to get to Forbes Library. Given that mobility constraint, she received regular book deliveries through the library’s Outreach Service. A friend remarked that the Forbes Coordinator kept track of what books she liked and which ones she had read and they had an ongoing relationship for years. That book supply line was important to her and the personal attention made it an enriching experience. The Library served her well.