(Suzanne Yowler is a Circulation Assistant at the Florence Branch)
Eons ago (maybe it was actually 1986), I started working as a page at the library during my senior year of high school at Conner. At the time, the Florence Branch was THE Boone County Public Library. I had been working there for a few months when a new page was hired. His name was David Yowler and he was a senior at Boone County High School.
According to David, “I remember clear as day the first time I saw Suzanne. I was putting books on a cart to be shelved. She walked by, gave me a fleeting glance, clocked in and went straight out to the front desk. I remember thinking how cute she was.”
As David and I got to know one another, we would be on break at the same time and just talk forever. I am sure those breaks went way over their time limit. I think Pat Yanarella gave us the evil eye at least once. David said she would walk in and say “Oh, you two are still in here.”
David and I became friends, then I left to go to college that August. He stayed at the library and eventually changed jobs and started driving the bookmobile. We kept in touch and started dating for the first time my sophomore year of college. Then he went off to join the Marines to earn money for school.
Even though we stopped dating, we remained friends. This was before cell phones, texting and Facebook. We actually exchanged handwritten letters. We dated off and on until after he got out of the Marines after four and a half years. His stint was extended when he was sent to the Gulf War.
When he finally came home in 1991, we started dating steadily again. After a few months, I decided I wanted to marry him. I told him this one night when we were talking on the phone. He told me I should probably come over. He was living with his parents at the time. Shortly after I arrived, he proposed. We were married on June 27, 1992, at what was at the time Florence Baptist Church. It is now the Church of Scientology Foundation on Main Street in Florence. Our son, Austin, came along in 1996, and Kendall was born in 2002. We will celebrate our 27th wedding anniversary in June.

–Suzanne
Suzanne Yowler is a Circulation Assistant at the Florence Branch