Giuseppina (Josie) Price, one of the library’s longest-serving volunteers, was recently honored at a luncheon in recognition of her ten years of outstanding service to the Mardigian Library. Josie joined the library’s volunteer program in 2000 because she missed the college campus environment.
Originally trained to help prepare journals for the bindery process, Josie soon took on the additional responsibility of book repair when another long-time volunteer “retired”. Book repair has become Josie’s favorite responsibility, perhaps because of her artistic back-ground and interests. She says she also enjoys the challenge of “taking a wreck and making it presentable and useable”!
Josie has an interesting family history. Her father, Alessandro Mastro-Valerio, came to the United States from Italy in 1913, moving first to Chicago and then to Ypsilanti when some friends decided to move there. He always said, “I had no idea where Ypsilanti was, but it sounded interesting.” As an artist, he traveled around the Midwest painting commissioned portraits. In the early 1920s, he taught art classes for Ypsilanti Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) where he met his future wife, Nola Manchester. Josie was born in Italy in the late 1920s when the couple was on an extended trip to visit his family. Shortly afterward, the family returned to the United States and Josie’s father became a full-time faculty member at the University of Michigan. Mastro-Valerio is best known for his mezzotints but also worked in other media. The Ypsilanti National Bank commissioned a mural by Mastro-Valerio and the work entitled “Progress” still hangs there today.
Josie received a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Spanish, from the University of Michigan in 1949. She married Stuart Price in 1952 and they raised two sons and a daughter. Josie and Stuart love to travel and we always enjoy seeing Stuart’s gorgeous photographs from their trips. Another hobby of Josie’s is jewelry making and her beautiful silver bracelets are truly amazing.
Josie volunteers most Thursday afternoons at the library and has become an integral member of the Technical Services team. She says staff and student workers have all become good friends and she looks forward to seeing them each week.
Volunteers are a vital part of the library’s workforce. We could not accomplish all of our work without them. Josie joins Betty Nickerson in achieving a ten year anniversary as a volunteer. Betty is our longest serving volunteer; she is one of our original volunteers who began in 1997 when the program started. Volunteers contribute more than just the work they perform; they are great role models and mentors for our students. We thank all of our volunteers for the important role they play. We offer our special thanks to Josie for her ten years of dedicated and outstanding service to the library!
