A memorial book drive is being held over the next several days to honor the memory of Clare Ryan-Dudley, a 1991 graduate of San Marino High School who passed away last year after a courageous four-year battle with ovarian cancer.
“Clare recognized that one person’s Harry Potter was another’s Romeo & Juliet,”
said Phil Ryan, Clare’s father, a former teacher and coach at San Marino High School. “She felt that all books have the potential to connect with the right reader.”
“Mrs. R-D’s Memorial Book Drive” honors Clare and her love of books with the objective “to help children find that book. The one that changes the way they think about books forever,” Phil Ryan added.
The book drive began on April 24—Clare’s birthday—and runs through May 15. Donations of new and gently used books appropriate for ages 8-14 are welcome.
“New books and old ones, blue books and gold ones,” Ryan said. “Books that make you laugh and those that make you cry. Short stories and epic tales, who-done-its and how’d-she-do-thats? The only criteria is that it left an impression on you or your loved ones.
Books can be dropped off at at College Park Elementary School, Irvine, where Clare was a teacher. Or shipped to the Ryan-Dudley’s; 2 Rhode Island; Irvine, CA, 92606
Donations will be shared between College Park Elementary in Irvine, La Rosa Elementary in Temple City—where she enjoyed her first teaching job—and depending upon supply, at other school libraries across Southern California!
Clare did her student teaching at Carver Elementary School. She graduated from San Marino with her husband, Rob Dudley.
Mention Clare at San Marino Toy & Book Shoppe and you will receive 30% off the book you purchase to donate to Mrs. R-D’s Memorial Book Drive.
