BROOKINGS — Native South Dakotan Peggy (Syreika) Whalen was born and raised in Sturgis. “It’s Lithuanian,” she said, of her maiden name. “My dad’s parents came over from Lithuania in the early 1900s.” She noted that the Sturgis she grew up in “is a lot different now than it was then.”
She came to Brookings in 1964 to attend South Dakota State University, where she majored in English and Journalism. It was here that she met John Whalen, who was in some of the same classes she was in and in the same major, but with a focus on printing. They married in 1967.
They left before they graduated and moved to Tyndall, where John’s parents owned the Tyndall Tribune and Springfield Times, weekly newspapers that “they were changing from hot type to cold type,” Peggy noted. “So, we both came to help with that transition. We were both out of school for that year and then came back.”
After some back-and-forth moving between Brookings and Springfield and Tyndall, they would settle in Brookings to stay in 1969. While in Tyndall and Springfield, they had done some newspaper work: By now the days of Linotype were long over. Peggy wrote some stories, set type, and did some proofreading. Back in Brookings, they graduated from SDSU in 1971.
Meanwhile, their son, Shawn, was born. The Whalens have a daughter, Michelle, three years younger than Shawn. They also have two grandsons and a great-granddaughter.
In Brookings, John worked at SDSU in what could be called “university relations.” In 1972, he became the first executive director of the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities; it would later become the South Dakota Humanities Council. Following his bachelor’s degree from SDSU, he had attended the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) and earned a master’s degree in communications.
Meanwhile, Peggy was a stay-at-home mom until 1979, when she was hired as the secretary at the SDSU Pius XII Newman Center for Catholic students. While it was informally referred to as the CCP (Catholic Campus Parish), it was never really a parish; it was, however, under the authority of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls and still is.
“I was there for 10 years, when the Dominicans were there,” Peggy recalled. “They were very cool,” she added, smiling. “They were much more liberal. They fit into my life pretty well.”
In 1989, she came to the Brookings Public Library, loved it, and stayed. “I worked as the secretary or administrative assistant. I’m not a librarian. … If you look at the job descriptions of most of the people (at the library), except for the children’s librarian, adult services, and the director, they don’t have degrees (related to library science). You work everywhere there. Like I said, I’m an ordinary person. I retired in 2013. That lasted six months. Then I came back parttime for two years.”
Looking back on those years at the library, Whalen, again smiling, said, “This was my dream job, being around books all day long.” She had become a book lover at an early age, growing up in an age when what was on television was pretty basic: black and white, three networks and on air mostly in the evening. As a child, she was a regular patron at the Sturgis Public Library. There was no children’s librarian per se, so she was able to check out whatever she wanted to read.
In addition to her love of and devotion to books, Whalen is interested in ballots and works in various roles tied to local voting: “You learn a lot, because, I mean what did I know? I came in and voted and left. But you find out that the process is a good one, at least here in Brookings. It’s balanced and checked. It would be very hard (to interfere).” Early voters casting their ballots at the Brookings City-County Government Center are likely to find Peggy there assisting them through the process as needed.
Visitors to the twice-a-year book sales at the Brookings Public Library will likely find Wheelen taking part, working on the checkout table and collecting the money for books sold.
“It’s the people you meet here, across the desk and asking for “do-you-know-a-good-book advice,” Whalen said of one of her favorite things about working in a library. She noted that the staff at the library would, when asked for, often help patrons pick out books based on what they like to read.
While she is not officially a “librarian,” by way of analogy think of Peggy Whalen as a sort of “minister without portfolio.”
“I just feel blessed that I can get up every day and move,” said so the soon-to-be octogenarian, who is no longer a runner but walks regularly. “And I have grandchildren and a great-grandchild. I want to see them do stuff, so I’ve got to stick around. We have a wedding this summer, the second grandson. Family is a huge deal.”
— Contact John Kubal at [email protected].
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