Librarian Pearl Frankenfield, 97, died of congestive heart failure Oct. 1 at her home in Port Richey, Fla., where she had lived for more than a decade.
A Norristown (PA) High School graduate and a longtime resident of Plymouth Meeting, she was executive director of the Montgomery County (PA) library system from 1968 until she retired in 1976.
Mrs. Frankenfield joined the staff of the Norristown Library in 1944, and became director in 1945. During the 1960-61 session of the Pennsylvania legislature, Frankenfield took an unpaid leave as a Norristown librarian to lobby the legislators full time to improve the state’s libraries.She supervised the merger of the Norristown Library and the Montgomery County Free Library in 1968 into the Montgomery County-Norristown Public Library.
According to Glenn Miller, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Library Association, “Those who knew Mrs. Frankenfield as the Pennsylvania Library Association lobbyist in Harrisburg in 1960-61 could not say enough about her commitment and leadership at a time that was critical for libraries.”
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