Dellie Craig is a well known name in the community for her contributions to local history and her work at the Crawfordsville District Public Library.
Her efforts have earned her the 2024 Journal Review Shining Star award.
Craig is a mother of a daughter and a son who died in 2012; a grandmother of four; and great-grandmother of five. She and her husband, Roger Craig, have been married for 53 years.
On Friday, Craig will celebrate 25 years of service at the local library.
Craig has many duties at the library. She covers local history, digitizes old books, indexes, trains staff and archives historical items the library receives. The extensive work Craig does at the library doesn’t end there, she also corresponds with 34 other states during her work.
She is also the activities director for the Genealogy Club and is well known for her dedication and passion to genealogy.
“Researching genealogy is like putting meat back on the bones,” Craig said.
She has always been interested in history and genealogy, but got more into it after she married her husband.
“I had seven Revolutionary War soldiers [in my family] and he didn’t know his grandma’s first name. And she was still living,” she said.
So, Craig went on a deep dive to find her husband’s ancestors and has been doing the same for people in the community for almost as long as she’s been working at the library.
Bill Douglas, who nominated Craig for the Shining Star award, said she’s the perfect nominee for the title.
“Would you like to know something or someone’s history of the past?” Douglas asked. “I promise you, Dellie will work harder than anyone I know to get that information for you,” he said of his friend and colleague at the library.
Craig’s passion for genealogy extends past her work duties, it’s also a hobby she pursues in her free time.
She also loves to read, mostly fiction and mostly Amish romance novels. She likes that the books are modest but still romantic.
Craig said most people don’t know that working in libraries, even in high school, helped her come out of her shell.
“As a child, I lived in the country, and when a stranger would come to the house, I’d go hide behind the door,” Craig said. “I was, you know, uncomfortable, and I didn’t talk that much. Now I make up for it.”
She said the library is a second home to her, and her colleagues are her family.
“Well, we work as a team. Even the patrons are like family,” Craig said.
