FACes & PlaceS
LOCAL COLOR May 2005

Warren Troust
by Samantha Penfold

[Editor's Note: Warren Troust passed away April 28, 2005. I only met Warren once (at the 2004 Chamber of Commerce Christmas party) but we had emailed each other many times. Warren was a fan of NewHopePennsylvania.com and was always generous in his praise. I will miss his good humor and intellect.]

As a fellow board member of the New Hope and Solebury Free Library, I knew Warren Troust for an all too short 240 days! Even when you calculate the minutes and seconds it hardly gives me the status to write about Warren. Many in our community knew him far better and longer than I and are certainly more qualified to describe him. I can not give you any specifics about his life and I would not presume to know any.

It was only by reading the recent obituary and talking to his past colleagues and friends that filled in some of my gaps about the details of his accomplished life.

But I feel so sad and if I, as an acquaintance, can feel this sadness how much more must those who were close to him feel?

When he became president of our very special New Hope and Solebury Free Library there was great excitement and optimism for his appointment. Over the ensuing months he demonstrated that he was a dedicated president. He handled board members with great tact and diplomacy. His “presidential style” was one of encouragement and help. He greeted new ideas from the fresh facers such as me with support and enthusiasm. I shall sorely miss the witty and warm emails that he sent as some of my ideas were developed and sometimes discarded. I never heard him grumble about anyone. In fact all the people that he mentioned he spoke warmly of.

The day after Warren died I was due to meet him at the library. I was running late and had to phone the library to book a computer for us to work on. Lisa Pruess, the Assistant Librarian quietly told me the news. It was such a shock that I asked her if she was joking! As if any one would joke about such a thing but he seemed too vital to have died.

When I read this back it doesn’t capture why I was so upset about his death. Perhaps you just needed to have met him for a little while.

And for those of you who had never met him, I want you to know that the day he died, the library lost a great champion and our little community got a whole lot smaller!