GLMA Grant Honors Mable Wyche Underwood
In a unanimous vote, the GLMA Executive Board elected to honor Mable Wyche Underwood by renaming its annual grant the GLMA Mable Wyche Underwood Grant. A career librarian, Mable served as Library Media Specialist and System Coordinator for the Lamar County School System in Barnesville, GA.
Convinced that students should be exposed to interests and activities outside their environment, Mable was a sponsor for both the Student Library Assistants of Georgia (SLAG) and Georgia Association of Library Assistants (GALA). Mable enjoyed planning and preparing her students for the annual district and state conventions. It was hard to tell who was more excited about the students' participation in the convention activities, such as the scrapbook and oratorical competitions--Mable or her students.
Mable's enthusiasm and passion for her work influenced many of her students and colleagues to join the library profession. Mable understood the importance of being affiliated with professional organizations and decided early in her career to be active and involved in her profession. To this end, she worked on the local, district, state, and national levels of library and education associations. In 1971, she served as president of the Georgia Library Media Department, which became the Georgia Library Media Association in 1988.
Woody Driskell, who worked with Mable on numerous committees and projects, comments, “She was an invaluable role model and adviser to me, especially in working with the Sixth District GLMD and with the Georgia Association of Library Assistants. She was a woman of great integrity…one of the most gracious, competent and supportive individuals that I have known. She personally and professionally made significant contributions to the library media profession, to race relations, and to education in Georgia.”
After a career of 41 years in education, Mable retired in 1987. Mable passed away on May 31, 2007. Her legacy is continued through her daughter, Rosalind Underwood Dennis, current GLMA President.