While it’s not unusual to pay tribute to the tremendous role coaches can have in our lives, it may not be common to pay tribute to a librarian.

But school faculty of any sort can be of seminal influence for the better, and my grade school librarian, Dorothy Lill, was a blessing to student lives for a solid quarter century. Mrs. Lill, who died earlier this month at age 92, showed me how books can open my mind — and, more importantly, feed my spirit.