Retired Lawyer Returns Library Book 31 Years Late
Retired lawyer Sarah McKee isn’t the type to let a mistake go uncorrected.
Recently she paid a $25 fine to an Arlington, Va., library and returned a book on great American Indian leaders along with a note of apology. She was sorry for the 31-year delay.
The Washington Post explains how 70-year old retired Massachusetts lawyer Sarah McKee discovered her error. She first checked out the book just after she passed the bar exam, in March 1978. But she owned a lot of books—some 4,000 at one point in her life—and came to believe that the borrowed book was hers.
“This month—three decades, one career, five presidents, three relocations, seven grandchildren and thousands of books later—McKee happened to open The Patriot Chiefs, spotted the library card in the pocket and thought: ‘Drat,’ ” the story says.
McKee worked as a lawyer for the Department of Labor and the Department of Energy. She told the Post this isn’t the first time she has suffered from forgetfulness. At one point she bought a book on how to have a perfect memory, and then discovered she already owned a copy.
