Nancy Emerson of Oak Point in Middleboro, wife of the late Warren R. Emerson, has put together a display of the more than 150 Lions International trading pins she and her husband collected over his lifetime.

The official group is the International Lions Pin Trading Club and about 20,000 members from all over the world attend conventions in the United States and worldwide.  She shows in her display – just a fraction of the 3,000 pins the couple collected – pins from Russia and China, Denmark, and throughout the United States.

“We have not necessarily been to all the countries represented, but we have met people from all of those countries and traded pins with people from those countries.”

Nancy is especially fond of the Moscow pin. “Russia didn’t always have a Lions Club.  We had been in the Lions for quite a while before Russia had any Lions Clubs.”

Each club every year designs a pin for their trading club.   She pointed out a set that was Warren’s brainchild, the “Glossy Gobblers” turkey set.  Each member of their group would have his own pin – they each have a different saying like “eat chicken for Thanksgiving”.  People trading would have to go to each table of the members to collect a full set.

There are quite a few sets on display.  Nancy is particularly fond of the Pennsylvania quilt patterns.   As a quilter herself, Warren asked her if she would like for him to collect the full set and she said she would – so he traded and collected the set just for her.

Lions Club pin trading has a long history in Lions Clubs International.   Founder Melvin Jones who began the Lions Clubs in the 1920s designed the first pin – a single lion – in paper, to be pinned in the lapel of Lions members.  When Lions Club International came into being, a new pin was designed with two lions facing in opposite directions.

Through the years, pins have been designed and made from a variety of materials from paper to wood, to various metals and finishings.  Some of the older pins are true works of art, with bright, shining cloisonné.   Today’s pins use a process similar to cloisonné but using plastic instead of glass.

Warren Emerson was well known as an avid pin collector and earned several awards and recognitions.

Nancy said that through the years she and Warren would look forward to the various conventions, attending several during the year, and meet friends they have made along the way through the organization.

The pins remind her of the friends who gave them and she loves to share them.

After a storied career spanning two decades as Plympton’s Library Director and a dozen years before that as a part-time worker at the circulation clerk, Debbie Batson is retiring at the end of the month.

“I’m a little nervous.   It’s going to be a big change,” she said, “but it’s time”. Is she going to miss  all that fun?   “Being the director of a small town library you get to do everything … which is overwhelming but also fun.  It’s different every day – there’s always something different you can do.  People make it.   The people make it good.  They become friends.”

We see them all the time.   When the little kids who came in for story time grow up and are bringing their kids in, “you know you’ve been here a long time.  I will miss that.” Even though we live in a small town how often do we see each other?  I will miss all the people.  But after almost 20 years as director, and 12 years before that at the circulation desk, it’s time.  There are some new faces in the library – relatively new – Chris Stratton from Kingston is at the circulation desk now since Kathy Keirstead retired, and Madelyn Pompei from Carver is in the children’s area.  The library world has changed a lot in 32 years; things move a little faster.  Somebody new will bring new energy and new ideas and I think that will be a good thing.”

What do you look forward to most?  “Being able to get up and do whatever I want.”  I won’t have to worry if the rain is coming in the library.  It will be nice not to have the building as a concern.”   They’ve had lots of critters in the library over the years – a squirrel for several weeks – nobody could catch it.  Finally one day the animal control officer was in the library and threw a net over it and caught it. For a while every spring there would be birds.  “We got so we were pretty good getting them out of here.”  And then there were snakes in the cellar … “not my favorite,” she said.

Was it more stressful to operate a library in the height of the pandemic? “Probably no more stressful than moving the library – all the books, shelves, everything – over to the Town House while the new library construction was underway,” she said.  School kids from Mrs. Bowden’s class, I think, took a day and made a line to pass books from one to the other all the way across to the Town House.   “We spent a whole summer with the library in the Town House working out of boxes.  Then we moved it all back.   And once was enough of that!  One pandemic, one moving a library,” she said.

“I couldn’t really imagine doing this when I started all those years ago at a part-time job, you know?   I had no idea that I would end up being director of the library for 20 years! I truly did not.”

“I can’t believe how quickly it has all gone by.  People always say that, but it’s true.”