Tommy learns to read

DISCOVER YOUR PUBLIC LIBRARY

Each Monday morning at 10 a.m. sharp, as the nearby Presbyterian

Church bells chime and our library doors swing open, Tommy Harris

strides purposefully into his classroom.

Cradling a black satchel, a stack of index cards and a quiver of

sharp pencils, Tommy is a man on a mission. You see, at age 61,

Tommy’s learning to read and write. Within a minute or two, his

soft-spoken tutor Joan Harrison, a long-time Laguna resident,

arrives. They are soon happily busy at their literary work.

Alabama-born and raised, Tommy dropped out of school before he

could read and went to work.

“Without an education, it’s hard to make it on your own,” Harris

said.

But make it on his own he did! He was careful, however, that his

jobs did not require that he read. As he tells it, his first job was

a roofer. Then he helped widen a road. This was followed by washing

cars and later working in a circus.

When Harris arrived in Laguna in 1977, he worked as a restaurant

dishwasher. One day the hot water heater broke and stayed that way

for several weeks. When Harris told his supervisor he couldn’t wash

the dishes in cold water and get the grease off, the supervisor told

him to wash them anyway. Harris refused and was fired.

Now, fortunately for Laguna Beach, Harris works for our city’s

Public Works Department. How did he get the job, you ask, if he could

not read or write?

“A friend helped me fill out the application,” Harris said. “I

checked on my application every week -- twice or three or four times.

“Finally, the man at City Hall said, ‘You know what? I’m going to

give you the job. I’m tired of looking at you.’”

And for eight years our community has had Harris to thank for

helping keep our village clean and safe. Last year, it was vigilant,

hard-working Harris who found the razor blades planted in the sand at

Main Beach. Harris’ current supervisor, Parks and Buildings Manager

Vic Hillstead, calls Harris “a treasure, always cheerful and

enthusiastic to take on extra work assignments.”

So, it was with great pride this week when Harris’ friend and

tutor, Harrison, and the library’s literacy program READ, awarded

this very diligent student his Certificate of Accomplishment for 100

hours of instruction. Harris has never forgotten what his father told

him long ago: “You’re never too old to learn.” Amen.

If you, or someone you know, are interested in becoming a literacy

tutor, please contact the library at (949) 497-1733 or Orange County

Public Library’s READ program at (714) 566-3070. After all, literacy

changes lives. Just ask Tommy Harris and Joan Harrison about that!

* MARIANNA HOF is the Laguna Beach branch librarian