County Library Room Will Be Dedicated to Late Morris Clerk, Freeholder

Ceremony will be held in April honoring Joan Bramhall.

Former Morris County Clerk and Freeholder Joan Bramhall was a major advocate for library services, spending many years helping fundraise for the public institutions.

On April 23, those efforts will be honored at a dedication ceremony at the Morris County Library in Hanover Township, naming the children’s room there after Bramhall and see a $5,000 grant in her honor from the Morris County Library Foundation go to the building for materials and programs.

Bramhall was the victim of a murder-suicide in August 2014 at her Denville home, with her husband, John Bramhall, identified as the shooter.

She was a staple in Morris County politics for decades, serving as a freeholder from 1993 to 1998, then as the county clerk until her retirement in 2012.

Bramhall was the founding chairwoman of the Library Foundation. On the plaque that will be presented to her family at the ceremony, one of her famous quotes will read, “Fine libraries exist with public funds; but it is through private funds that they are able to flourish.”

The plaque will be hung in the library’s entrance to the reading room.

Subscribe to a free email newsletter and breaking news alerts by clicking on the Patch town name:
Long Valley • Mendham-Chester • Morristown • Parsippany • Hackettstown • Morris Township • Jefferson • Hopatcong-Sparta • East Hanover-Florham Park • Madison • Chatham • Montville • Tri-Boro