On Oct. 2, 2010 at 11 am at the Mentz Town Hall, a remembrance of life gathering will be held in honor of Pearl Kilmer Wilson. In 1985 at the age of 91, Pearl campaigned to save the reduced postage for home delivery of books for disabled and homebound seniors. The program offered by the Fingerlakes Library System called "Mail-It", offers home delivery of books to qualified patrons, including large print.
Pearl wrote many le...tters and appeared on the front page of the Auburn Citizen with a plea "If they take my books away, I won't have anything".
Three months later, her story was picked up by the third grade class at Owasco Elementary School where teachers decided the potential cutback was in contradiction to their teachings of a Government "of, for and by the people".
The third grade children wrote protest letters to Senators Alphonse D'Amato, Patrick Moynahan and Frank Horton. Student Heather Lee called her Great Uncle who then presented the letter to Horton's Secretary. Congressman Horton agreed to appear at Owasco School and presented the school with a flag that had flown over the Capital. The children enjoyed a period of question and answer with the final question being "What will happen to the Mail-It library program for the elderly and physically impaired"? Horton replied "Hopefully the new budget will allow the program to continue. I've already voted for it"
The descendants of Pearl Wilson will be gathering for a remembrance of life celebration. They are asking anyone interested in contributing to please consider making a donation to the Port Byron Library marked with "Pearl Wilson Fund" which will be used to purchase large print books.
Pearl Wilson loved to read and thanks to her campaign, as well as the outcry of the Owasco School children, the Mail-It program still exists today.
Anyone that is unable to attend in person is welcome to send a greeting card directly to the library at the above address.
Added by pbhistory on August 5, 2010