By Jim Newell

Review Editor

For 31 years, Linda Sickles led the Orion Township Public Library as its director, working tirelessly to bring a new, modern library to the township and make it a center of the community.

Sickles, who had waged a fierce battle against cancer, died on Dec. 15. She was 72.

A memorial service honoring Sickles’ life is at 2 p.m. Friday at St. Paul’s Methodist Church, 620 Romeo St., in Rochester.

Linda Sickles was born May 7, 1947 in Bloomfield Hills, where her love for books was kindled at a young age. She grew up in a house of readers and became a book stacker in school and then at the Baldwin Library in Birmingham, according to Review archives.

Sickles graduated from Bloomfield Hills Andover High School in 1965. She earned a degree in political science from Eastern Michigan University in 1969 and a masters degree in Librarianship from Western Michigan in 1970.

After graduating, she moved to Boston for a couple years and worked in a medical library. Sickles then returned to Michigan and eventually ended up at the Rochester Hills Public Library.

While in Rochester, Sickles saw an opening for a director’s position in Orion Township and decided it was time to take a chance on a leadership role.

In 1981, Sickles was named director of the old Orion Township Public Library on Lapeer Road, in what is now the Northern Flooring & Interiors building.

There, she watched the undersized facility decline due to its older collection and lack of funding.

“When I first started in Orion, I did everything from counting money to making the schedule and ordering books,” Sickles told The Review in 2005. “It became apparent very soon (that) the library needed to grow.”

Library Director Karen Knox took over for Sickles when she retired in January 2012.

Sickles was instrumental in bringing about the Orion Township Public Library as residents know it today – a gathering place where people could get books, information, access to technology, all with great customer service, Knox said.

“She led the initiative and millage to get funds to build the library,” Knox said, adding Sickles committed herself to improving the library’s relationships with township, village, DDA and school officials and other organizations within the community.

Sickles spearheaded the effort for a new library, and in 1986 the Orion community passed a bond to create the new Orion Township Public Library to serve the next generation of Orion residents. The 29,000 square foot building opened at 825 Joslyn Road in February of 1989.

Upon her retirement, Sickles told The Review that getting the library built was her greatest professional accomplishment.

“We’ve become not just a repository of information and the gatekeeper of books, but a community center,” Sickles said in 2012. “We offer a variety of activities for families and people of all ages. The library is now a cornerstone of sorts in Lake Orion.”

“She really wanted the library to be the center of the community…she tried hard to stay current and make sure the library was up-to-date,” Knox said. “She loved libraries. She loved this library and found it very beneficial to have it here in this community.”

Knox credited Sickles with hiring qualified staff to provide the highest level of service to the community.

“She was amazing. She worked tirelessly for this library,” Knox said. “And she was really involved in the community at that time.”

Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett remembered Sickles at the township board meeting on Monday, praising her leadership at the library.

“She was our longtime librarian in Orion Township. She was responsible for the library that we have today,” Barnett said. “Our condolences to the Sickles family.”

During her tenure at the library, Sickles especially enjoyed working with young people and promoting reading as an adventure.

“When you pick up a book, you don’t know where you are going to end up at the end of the voyage,” she said.