Hey Oceanport! What's Your Favorite 'Miss Michele' Story?

Patch reporter and Oceanport resident Shannon Winning shared the following story with us: "Recently I spotted my childhood librarian in the grocery store, and though it had been at least 30 years since I last saw her, I knew instantly that it was her. Almost immediately, I was brought back to time she read me the Little Engine That Could and pretended not to see me eating all the Honeycomb cereal we were using for the wheels in our train craft."

Memories like these are what make this week's news all that much harder to take.

Oceanport residents learned this week that their long-time librarian is to be transferred next week to a new post and the news has plenty of residents up-in-arms on Facebook over the pending loss.

"She's a part of the Oceanport family," said Councilman Joseph Irace Tuesday of the decision to move Michele Bordeaux - or "Miss Michele" - to another branch of the Monmouth County Library system after 19 years in Oceanport.

"She helped raise all our kids," added Irace, who told Patch he found out about the transfer on Facebook this week. "My kids used to run into the library and give her a hug."

While Irace and fellow council member Ellynn Kahle try to work their way through county channels and determine if the move can be reversed, other members of the community have begun to write letters to county officials to keep Bordeaux in Oceanport.

Irace said that Bordeaux is the type of librarian that not only knows patrons names but the types of books they like to read. "She's the epitome of what a small-town librarian should be."

Michele is kind of like everyone's family," said Irace. "She's one of our own."

Tell us: Do you have any "Miss Michele" stories? Share them here on Patch.