County library commission honors supporters
T
he commissioners noted with sorrow
the passing of artist and sculptor Nicholas J. Caivano, 78, who died suddenly at his home in Shrewsbury on Nov. 1. Caivano had lived in Shrewsbury for 46 years and was an art teacher and professor for more than 40 years, most recently at Georgian Court University in Lakewood. He was also a past president and instructor at the Guild of Creative Art in Shrewsbury.
Caivano had been an ardent supporter of the Eastern Branch of the Monmouth County Library in Shrewsbury and had donated several of his sculptures for the library.
He also was the artist for the Red Bank Fire Department Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Marine Park, and his sculpture of St. Anthony in prayer stands in the prayer garden at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Red Bank, where he was a communicant.
The Board of Commissioners at its December meeting presented Caivano’s wife, Lois, with a copy of the book “Shape of Things To Come: New Sculpture,” edited by Mark Holborn. Copies of this book, with a special bookplate honoring Caivano, will be placed in the library’s collection.
The commissioners also recognized the contributions of Anna Stuhl, a longtime librarian with the system who died this past October at age 85.
Stuhl was a librarian who started her career with the Monmouth County Library System on the bookmobile and ended it 26 years later as the assistant director of the library system when she retired in 1985. She was a past president of the Monmouth Librarians and the Friends of the Monmouth County Library.
She was born in Romania and met her future husband, Al Stuhl, while living in Quebec, Canada. She moved to her husband’s poultry farm in Howell in the 1940s. In 1959 Anna Stuhl began working on the library system’s bookmobile, which, before the different branches were built, traveled to different municipalities to lend out books. She served as assistant director of the library system from 1972 until her retirement in 1985.
The commissioners presented Al Stuhl with the book “Three Cups of Tea,” by Greg Mortensen and David Oliver Relin. Copies of this book, along with other titles, will be placed in the library system’s collection bearing a special bookplate honoring Anna Stuhl’s memory.
The commissioners also recognized the contributions of a longtime member of the board, Frank E. Gibson. Library board Commissioner and Freeholder Lillian G. Burry read a proclamation by the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders that designated Dec. 9 as Frank Gibson Day in honor of his 40 years of service on the library commission.
Gibson, a Notre Dame University graduate and a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, served as mayor of Freehold Borough from 1961 to 1967. He joined the Monmouth County Library Commission on Jan. 1, 1968, and was appointed board vice chairman in 1979.
The proclamation noted that during his tenure, Gibson was instrumental in the creation of the countywide library system, the expansion and construction of the Western Branch Headquarters in Manalapan, and the construction of the Eastern Branch Library in Shrewsbury.
Gibson, 91, who is now retired from the board, was on hand to receive a copy of the proclamation from Burry.
