The library at The Center is now the Paul â┚¬Å”Miss Pâ┚¬Â Wegman Memorial Library, after being dedicated on April 3 to the facility's very first librarian who passed away eight years ago.
â┚¬Å”Miss Pâ┚¬Â was the headliner at the Parliament House for decades. Her ashes are placed under the stage at The Footlight Theatre.
â┚¬Å”So every time you see a drag queen trip, that's Paul grabbing their heel,â┚¬Â said Miss P's brother, David Wegman.
â┚¬Å”She was a mix between Tallulah Bankhead and Don Rickles,â┚¬Â said Center Executive Director Randy Stephens. â┚¬Å”She was definitely an icon that a lot of people remembered.â┚¬ÂÂ
At the dedication ceremony, Wegman donated books from Miss P's personal collection, a commemorative plaque was hung and attendees watched the screening of a video memorial of Miss P. Stephens said the library now contains 3,500 volumes, which members of The Center can check out for free.
â┚¬Å”Her brother donated some of her personal books including her own personal dictionary and a few other reference materials that she used,â┚¬Â Stephens said.
He said The Center has had five librarians over the years and â┚¬Å”each one of them have brought something very valuable to it,â┚¬Â so Stephens plans to write a brief history of each to be distributed to The Center's members.
