YOU LED A WONDERFUL LIFE MISS SARA NELL

BY: Michael A. Aun, FIC, LUTCF, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame

Sara Nell Bryan was an old fashion librarian who ran an old fashioned library. For some 33 years, she was the chief cook and bottle washer for the Lexington County Library in Lexington, S.C. She very peacefully said goodbye to a grateful community when she died at 83 years of age earlier this year.

I knew Miss Sara Nell, as I called her, on several levels. As a child I peddled the afternoon newspaper, the now defunct Columbia Record, to her home where she and her husband Phil lived, right there on West Main Street a stone's throw from Rawl's Restaurant and Mack's Cash and Carry Grocery.

I knew all her kids well. Linda was a good buddy of my older sister Mary. Phil was a good friend of my brother George. And Jeffrey, the youngest of the clan, was close to my younger brother Fred. Jeff ate more meals at our house than he did his own.

I knew Miss Sara Nell most intimately on a level of which no one was aware. I used to go to the library and check out every sports book she had on the rack. "You aren't going to read all those books," she said as she challenged me. "No," I'd respond. "I'm just trying to impress you."

I fell in love with the written word early on in my life. I particularly liked the sports books because they were full of statistics, and they told the wonderful stories of triumph and tragedy, victory and defeat.

Miss Sara Nell would always debrief me for two reasons. First, I'm not sure she believed I bothered to read the books, and secondly because I would always take several at a time.

When my grandfather Eli Mack, Sr. turned me on to keeping a journal at the age of 11, I began to take notes from some of the books and would put away some "keepers" for later use. I had no idea at the time why I was keeping them, but I was convinced that a good story about Wilma Rudolph or Roger Banister would come in handy later in life.

Turns out that Wilma Rudolph story was instrumental in my winning the World Championship of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International in 1978 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was one of the many speeches that I delivered along the path to the championship.

When you compete in Toastmasters International, after you pass the state or District level, you have to prepare a new and different speech for all the advanced levels through the international finals. No two speeches can be similar, and you have to send them copies of all your previous speeches so they can check for duplication.

I know Miss Sara Nell never knew it, but she helped prepare me for a career in public speaking and writing. She'd probably freak out if she knew I've written five books of my own. Like old George Bailey in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," I suspect she touched the lives of many a Lexingtonian over the years.

I picked up two bad habits early on that still haunt me today. First, I'm a backward reader. I have a tendency to read the end of a book or an article and if I like the payoff, I'll go back and read the whole thing. That was my early version of "speed reading."

The other bad habit I have acquired forced me to start buying my books. When I see something in a book or a magazine I want to keep, I tear out the pages. Let the record reflect that I never tore out any pages of Miss Sara Nell's books. God help me if I so much as folded a corner over. But why keep the whole thing when I only needed a small part?

Today, I still retain notes the same way. I have four walls of books in my office with pages missing. Librarians everywhere are flipping in their graves, including Miss Sara Nell, but this is my way of gathering information today. I simply file them under a category that I use regularly.

I give speeches on sales, management, leadership, customer service and change, so you can guess what some of those labels on the folders say. Those folders have turned into file drawers in filing cabinets and electronic folders on my computer.

Success in life is a system. That's what Miss Sara Nell taught me when I questioned her on how she kept up with all the books. She patiently showed me her system when I would drop off old books and pick up new ones. And she always made me give a verbal book report.

I guess I never knew it, but Miss Sara Nell Bryan was grooming me to be a professional speaker from the age of six on. Thanks for the memories Miss Sara Nell. Today I appreciate you more than I ever did before. You led a wonderful life.