Nora Timmons drives Grand Marshal and retiring librarian Tim Blevins in a Mustang convertible. Amy Byres photo.

Placitas residents held a small parade last weekend in honor of a librarian who is retiring.
“I am speechless,” said soon-to-be-retired librarian Tim Blevins. “.This community has always been very welcoming for me from day one. So this doesn’t surprise me in the fact that they are so giving and accepting.”
Blevins has been working at the library for about 14 months. He plans to volunteer at the library after retirement and work on a few writing projects he has started.

At Homestead Village shopping center, Placitas residents, including Placitas Community Library board of directors chairwoman Doris Field, second from right, decorate vehicles participating in parade for retiring librarian Tim Blevins. Amy Byres photo.

Doris Field is the chairwoman of the Placitas Community Library board of directors. She organized the small parade.
The parade was a surprise for Blevins, so participants met at the Homestead Village Shopping Center in Placitas to decorate their vehicles and line up to drive to the library, picking up Blevins to ride in a Mustang convertible as the grand marshal.
“We came today to celebrate an extraordinary director that is retiring,” Field said.
The Placitas community is very close, with longtime residents whose families have been there since the 1700s to new residents, she said.
“People care about the library, people care about each other and I think the library community is just superb,” Field said.
Sandoval County Commissioner Katherine Bruch, District 1, attended, saying she is thankful for the time Blevins spent working at the library.
“I am so glad that we have had him during those construction phases. We have been under construction at the library, and he has been such an asset,” she said.
In January 2020, the county commission approved a contract with Anissa Construction for over $800,000 in state funding to expand the library, according to county documents.
The added space will offer a meeting place for residents in the Placitas area, and provide a place to display art from Sandoval County artists, according to county documents. The project will also include an expansion of the children’s area.
“Tim is such a special person,” Bruch said. “Working in these roles is so often bigger than what we think they are going to be. He has just been up to the task, and so now his position is actually being divided into two jobs.”
The two jobs have been filled by Mary Sue Houser, who will be the new librarian, and Furman Kelley, an administrator. The split has allowed the librarian to focus operations in the library, while the administrator can focus on the paperwork that funds the operations and building, Kelley said.
The construction project is slated to be complete in April, he said.
“This is a pretty amazing resource for a community this size,” he said about the library.
Kelley appreciates Blevins’ work and his willingness to help out after retirement.
Houser said she is a patron, supporter and neighbor to the library and is excited to be following in Blevins’ footsteps.
“I keep saying I am honored to be part of this amazing community project, and Tim is going to leave some big shoes to fill, so I am a little anxious about that; just hoping to live up to his stellar work,” she said. “I am very excited to be here at this at the juncture with the new expansion opening soon and the pandemic, we all hope, winding down.”
For more information about the library on 453 NM 165, call 867-3355 or visit placitaslibrary.com.

Cars line up to begin a surprise parade for retiring Placitas librarian Tim Blevins. Amy Byres photo.