After almost forty years, Library Director Martha Hutzel will retire from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) on Sept. 30. Hutzel was appointed director in 2016 after several prior positions at different library branches, including branch manager and head of circulation.

Hutzel said she was inspired to become a librarian “by [her] mother, who is still living at 102, and by [her] father, both of whom loved books and reading and set that example for their 13 children.” After completing chores on the dairy farm she grew up on, she and her siblings were allowed to read whatever they wanted. In the 1980s, Hutzel moved to Fredericksburg and immediately got a library card and part-time job at the Fredericksburg location. She said the staff “welcomed me with open arms and I fell into them.”