Canatha Hyde Earley died April 27, 2011, when a tornado struck Pleasant Grove, Alabama.If you ever stopped by the Pleasant Grove Library, chances are Canatha Hyde Earley was there to help you.
A retired nurse and former emergency room director for Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Earley, 72, spent her retirement days volunteering at the library. She died when a tornado swept through Pleasant Grove, destroying her home on 12th Lane.
Pleasant Grove Library Director Donna Sartain said words can't express the loss the library staff and patrons feel. "She really, truly loved volunteering up here," Sartain said.
The Jefferson County Public Library Association named Earley a "2010 Library Champion" in December.
"I just like being out and seeing people and meeting people. I can do little things to help them that they are too busy to do," Earley said in a March interview.
She worked 40 years in the nursing profession and loved helping people recover. She was an active member of First Baptist Church in Pleasant Grove and enjoyed reading, sewing and staying active.
Earley and her husband, Bobby, bought gifts for three children in their neighborhood who were being raised by a single mother, Sartain said. "They loved those children like they were their own."