It was with great sadness that the Friends of the Library learned of the passing of Thom Ball, library manager of the Pacifica Libraries from 2005 to 2014. Thom was a great friend of the Friends, and an active community member.  Over the years, he guided and mentored the Pacifica Friends of the Library board, and he worked with the Friends and the Pacifica Library Foundation and the City of Pacifica preparing the groundwork of needs assessment and preliminary planning for a new Pacifica library. He put in many hours of meetings and planning in this effort. He was transferred to Millbrae in 2014, but continued to take an active part in community life in his hometown of Pacifica.  He worked on the library campaign and continued to take an active interest. He also volunteered with the Pacifica Resource Center and was getting ready for their big fund raiser. It was a pleasure to work with him.

Thom came with many talents. In his early life, he was a musician and traveled with a band as a guitarist and singer. When he came to Pacifica,  he turned that talent into a wonderful musical story time.  He also invited many musicians like Peter Fletcher to put on programs for us.  His other great talent was in the kitchen. Staff always eagerly anticipated his contributions to pot lucks.  He was also a champion of the garden at Sanchez Library and celebrated the harvests, most of which was donated to the Resource Center. An avid Giants fan, he sometimes surreptitiously checked the score during play off seasons at night meetings.

Our condolences go to his wife Wendy, sons Jamie, Ryan, and Michael.  He will be sorely missed.