Walk into Austin Memorial Library on almost any day, and chances are you’ll find Mary Merrill Cohn laughing with a child, helping someone research family history, recommending a mystery novel or lending a listening ear to a patron in need.
For more than four decades, Cohn has been a familiar face inside the library’s walls. She began working there as a Cleveland High School student in 1984 and has served as library director for more than two decades. During that time, she has watched children grow into parents and then grandparents, all while helping Austin Memorial Library grow from a traditional library into a community hub where people gather to learn, connect and discover.
Ask Cohn what she enjoys most after all these years, and her answer comes without hesitation.
“The people,” she said. “Working with the people. I love it.”
That love for people is woven through nearly every chapter of her life.
Cohn recently sat down with Bluebonnet News for a podcast episode of Headlines and Heartlines, sharing stories that ranged from growing up in England and Japan to serving in the U.S. Air Force, working as a paramedic, preserving Cleveland’s history and finding joy in something as simple as reading with a child.
Born in England to an American serviceman and a British mother, Cohn spent her early years moving wherever her father’s military career took the family. She lived in England and Okinawa, Japan, before eventually settling in Cleveland after her father’s retirement.
“My mother left everything she knew while pregnant with her first child to come to a place she knew nothing about because she loved my father,” Cohn said.
Frequent moves meant constant change, but one thing never did.
No matter where the family lived, visits to the base library became a tradition. It was there, and through a Christmas gift from her grandmother—whom she affectionately called “Nan”—that Cohn discovered a lifelong love of books.
“My Nan gave me my very first book for Christmas,” she said. “That opened up a world.”
Even today, traces of her childhood remain. Mention her mother, and her Texas drawl occasionally gives way to a British accent without her even realizing it—a habit she laughingly admits has followed her for years.
Ironically, becoming a librarian was never part of Cohn’s plan.
As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a medical examiner, fascinated by forensic science long before it became a popular television genre. Later, she served four years in the U.S. Air Force in military intelligence before pursuing a career as a paramedic.
“I wanted to be a medical examiner,” she said with a laugh.
After leaving the military, Cohn intentionally chose emergency medicine because she wanted to help people in a hands-on way. Working as a paramedic suited her personality, and she continued answering emergency calls even after beginning a temporary job at Austin Memorial Library.
That temporary assignment came about when longtime library employee Lottie Page became ill and needed someone to fill in.
Cohn stepped behind the circulation desk, expecting to stay only a short time.
She never left.
More than 40 years later, she still lights up when talking about the people who walk through the library’s doors.
“When I first started working here, I now have those parents or grand… they’re now grandparents coming in, and they brought in their children, and now they’re bringing in their grandkids, going, ‘I remember you. Do you remember me?’ And I love that.”
Her favorite moments often happen during children’s story time.
While children’s librarian Wendy McNair leads the program, Cohn admits she occasionally can’t resist joining the fun.
“If there’s bubbles and I happen to walk there, I have to go through and I have to dance in the bubbles and be a crazy fool,” she said. “I get to be that little child again. … I realized the other day that I am no longer the crazy young lady. I’m now the crazy older lady and their crazy grandmother.”
Although Cohn never had children of her own, she smiles when people point out that, in many ways, she has helped raise generations of Cleveland’s children.
“I do, and I love it,” she said.
That love for children has helped shape the library itself.
Over the years, Austin Memorial Library has evolved far beyond a place to check out books. Today it offers e-books, audiobooks, streaming movies, telehealth space, laptops, private meeting rooms and one of the few Sunday schedules among public libraries in the region.
The library also became one of Texas’ first Family Place Libraries, emphasizing early childhood literacy and family engagement. Plans are now underway for an outdoor learning center featuring educational play areas, music stations and space for children’s programming.
One of Cohn’s favorite projects is the library’s Kids Pop-Up Market, where young entrepreneurs learn the basics of running a business. By partnering with Austin Bank and the Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, the library replaced cash with tickets, allowing children to focus on customer service and business skills without handling money. The program has since been presented at the Texas Library Association Conference as a model for other libraries.
For Cohn, looking ahead has never meant forgetting the past.
One of the projects closest to her heart began years ago when she partnered with the Cleveland Advocate to preserve decades of local newspapers through the Portal to Texas History. Recognizing the historical value of the archives, the library secured grant funding to digitize editions of the newspaper so future generations could search and access stories documenting Cleveland’s history. Although the Cleveland Advocate has since ceased publication, its pages continue to tell the story of the community it served.
“To me, the history belongs to the people,” Cohn said.
She believes preserving local history is just as important as collecting new books. Whether someone is researching a family member, tracing the history of a neighborhood or looking for a decades-old football photograph, those archives help tell the story of Cleveland through the lives of the people who built it.
A love of history was also something she shared with her late husband, former Cleveland Mayor Otis Cohn.
The two married later in life, and Cohn describes him simply as “the love of my life.” During his years as mayor, she watched him spend countless hours studying City Council agendas, marking grammatical errors in meeting packets and carefully preparing questions before every meeting.
“He would literally spend the weekend reading it,” she recalled.
Otis also became known for a phrase that many Cleveland residents still remember today.
“If you know about it, crow about it.”
He believed people were often too quick to focus on what was wrong while overlooking what was right.
“He said there is a lot of good in Cleveland,” Cohn recalled. “If you think that there is something that is broke or wrong in Cleveland, then fix it, or do something about it.”
Even after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer, Otis remained focused on serving others. His efforts to bring infusion services to Cleveland are remembered today through the infusion room at Texas Oncology’s Cleveland office, which bears his name.
Losing him changed every part of Cohn’s life.
“You know, a lot of people will say that time heals,” she said. “To me, it doesn’t heal, that that void is always there, but what you do is learn to live… Everything’s a learning process.”
Rather than allowing grief to define her, Cohn said she learned to carry it, much like every other season of life.
“You learn when you’re a child to become an adult. You learn as an adult… you have to learn when your parents die,” she said. “It’s all a learning process.”
Asked what gives her hope, Cohn didn’t hesitate.
“God,” she said. “God and my faith.”
That faith influences far more than her Sunday mornings. It shapes the way she approaches the people she meets each day, whether they’re preschoolers attending story time, longtime patrons searching for family history or someone simply looking for a quiet place to sit.
When asked what was on her heart, her answer reflected the same philosophy that has guided her throughout her life.
“I would still say, God, my faith, and the fact that you’ve just got to love people, because Jesus came to show everybody love, even the most difficult people,” Cohn said. “They need love, too.”
That love for people surfaces throughout everyday conversations with Cohn.
She talks with equal enthusiasm about mystery novels and British history, children’s programs and Roman ruins. She laughs about accidentally slipping into a British accent when talking about her mother. She admits to dancing through bubbles during story time and jokingly calls herself the “crazy older lady” when she’s playing with children at the library. She even laughs about being the unofficial “chocolate dealer” for an elderly patron whose nightly treat is a fun-sized candy bar.
Spend a few minutes talking with Mary Merrill Cohn and it’s easy to understand why people keep coming back. Yes, they come for the books. Yes, it is for the programs, yes, it’s to research family history or attend a children’s event, but yes, it is also because many people know they’ll be greeted by someone who remembers their name, asks about their family and genuinely enjoys seeing them.
After more than 40 years at Austin Memorial Library, that’s the chapter of her story Cohn seems to treasure most.
“The people,” she said. “Working with the people. I love it.”
Mary is a treasure.