The Verdict -- Robert Gardner

Once upon a time, there existed on the grounds of the Corona del Mar

Elementary School (now a bunch of houses) a small, one-room building that

housed the Corona del Mar branch of the Newport Beach Public Library

system. Over this small building presided a lady named Mrs. Frasier, a

quiet, reserved, unflappable lady.

During most of the school day, the small building was a typical

library, a place of quiet and repose. But when a certain bell rang in the

adjoining school house, all hell broke loose as what seemed to be several

hundred small urchins invaded, each intent on making as much noise as the

human system could generate.

I am sure the building was meant to house at the most 15 or 20 people, and suddenly what seemed like 10 times that many were yanking books from

shelves, wrestling over volumes and creating the kind of carefree chaos

that only children can manage.

Finally, another bell would ring, and the little monsters would gallop

out, and Mrs. Frasier would patiently replace the books and wait serenely

for the next assault.

My mother was a woman of limitless patience. However, had she been

placed in Mrs. Frasier’s position I am sure she would have been whacking

youngsters right and left. Somehow, Mrs. Frasier not only survived, she

seemed to thrive on the bedlam.

One time, by reason of some inexcusable bureaucratic mistake, Mrs.

Frasier was assigned for a day to the Balboa branch of the library. All

this silence. Finally, when the poor lady was about to have a nervous

collapse from all that quiet, they took mercy on her and sent her back to

her noise machine.

When the present Corona del Mar branch was built and the little school

library closed, Mrs. Frasier somehow managed to make the transition and

adjust to the lack of noise. The puzzling thing is, there is no record of

this wonderful woman. There’s nothing at the library, no plaque or

anything, and none of the librarians I have spoken to remember her. I’m

sure, though, there are hundreds of former students who, even if they

don’t remember Mrs. Frasier by name, remember the little library at the

Corona del Mar Elementary School and this calm figure in the center of

it.

* ROBERT GARDNER is a Corona del Mar resident and a former judge. His

column runs Tuesdays.