Some people teach literacy with lesson plans. Margie Maschmeyer started with songs.
A lifelong resident of Kenton County, Margie raised five daughters in a home where time was often short but imagination never was. Reading aloud every night did not always fit into busy days, so she found another way: she sang stories. With a pause before the last verse, a daughter would ask, “What happens? What comes next?” That curiosity became a family tradition, and a theme of Margie’s life: helping others discover that reading is not just a skill. It is a doorway.
Kenton County Public Library is proud to recognize Margie Maschmeyer as the 2025 recipient of the Mary Ann Mongan Literacy Award. The award was presented on Saturday, January 19.
For more than a decade, Margie served as a teacher’s aide at St. James–St. Boniface School in Ludlow, encouraging young readers and helping kids build confidence. “She did it all as a volunteer and her payment was always helping others!” said Dave Schroeder, Executive Director of Kenton County Public Library.
Angie Taylor, a board member of the Kenton County Public Library Foundation, described Margie’s gift for drawing children in: “She sang stories to children to help gain their interest” and would stop short of the ending, “encouraging them to read the book to find out how the story ended.”
Margie brought that same heart to adult learners through KCPL’s Adult Literacy program, tutoring with the Laubach Method. Taylor shared that Margie “listened to their stories and brought English alive for them through her tutoring.” Lessons were practical and personal: a trip to the grocery store to learn produce and aisle signs, support for reading bus schedules, and the kind of patient encouragement that leads to breakthroughs like a call she received from a student: “I just read a book to my child for the first time!”
Margie also volunteered with the Reading Buddy program at the Erlanger Branch, where relationships mattered as much as skills. One young reader, Andrew, became a favorite. When fall evenings got darker, Andrew’s mom drove Margie to and from the library so she would not miss her “Andrew time.” Afterward, Andrew always walked her to the door, hand-in-hand. Taylor noted, “Andrew’s Mom stayed in touch with Margie and they remain good friends.” Andrew and his mother were at the award ceremony on Saturday.
Today, Margie is 95 and still an active library user, comfortably searching titles, checking out books and placing holds online. If you visit her, be ready for the question she asks everyone: “What are you reading now?”
Margie’s legacy is not only the number of people she helped, but the way she helped them: with warmth, creativity and the steady belief that everyone deserves the chance to turn the page. Taylor captured it in a single line: Margie “serves as a light of hope for the future of literacy for generations to come.”
Congratulations, Margie. Thank you for a lifetime of helping the Northern Kentucky community!
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