Jo Wahdan, an influential figure in the evolution of the San Benito County Free Library who launched the adult literacy and bookmobile programs and led the institution into the digital age, has died. She was 78.
Wahdan retired from her job as head librarian of the San Benito County Free Library in 2004 after serving in the role for 25 years.
She is credited with such monumental milestones locally as leading the library into the modern technology age, launching the adult literacy program, creating the Youth Alliance, starting the bookmobile program, developing the Friends of the Library organization that helps fund the institution, and sustaining the library through tough financial times including a closure, according to friends, family and Free Lance archives.
Wahdan died Monday in Roseville, where she has lived in recent years to be closer to family, said Elvira Zaragoza Robinson, her niece and a Hollister attorney. After retiring from the San Benito County Free Library 11 years ago, she moved to Southern California but found her way to the Sacramento area, said her friend, Ruth Erickson.
Wahdan is survived by two daughters and was preceded in death by a son. Her funeral is tentatively scheduled for June 12 in the Sacramento area, Robinson said.
Wahdan accepted the Hollister library job in 1979. She was raised in Monterey and came to Hollister from Milwaukee, where she earned a master’s degree in library science before spending six years in the city’s public library system.
Friends said Wahdan was particularly proud of her heritage—she was part Mexican, part Pima Indian—and past service in the Navy.
She was proud of her service to San Benito County, too.
“It was linking the community to the broader library services,” she told the Free Lance in recounting her tenure in 2004.
When she retired, she expected to stay active.
“I feel like I’m turning a page and it’s a new chapter in my life,” said Wahdan at the time. “I’m looking for new and exciting things to do.”
