Ride Along with Courier Gary Turpin

Go on the road with KCPL Courier Gary Turpin to learn more about how he keeps our system connected.

6:30 AM. A hazy Monday morning in July. I park my bicycle and wait on the corner of Quarrier and Summers Street by the Main Library in Downtown Charleston. I'm going on the road with our courier Gary Turpin today. I've got my lunch, water, camera, notepad, and my current YA fantasy read in my backpack. In a couple minutes Gary rounds the corner from Capitol Street in the courier truck, picking me up from where it's parked overnight in the Charleston Town Center Mall garage. He's got the AC on, but we opt for windows while the breeze is still cool. First stop: Dunbar!

Gary delivers KCPL circulation items to all locations within our system, Monday through Friday. Gray plastic stacking bins contain books, CDs, and DVDs requested by our patrons. Blue tubs hold new items just cataloged by our Technical Services Department. Boxes of supplies and blue bags for interoffice mail rounds out his eclectic cargo, and that's just the regular stuff! Depending on the week, month, or season, he’s also delivering boxes of Book Sale items, those coveted BookPage magazines, and thousands of Summer Library Club completion prizes from branch to branch.

Last summer, Cataloger Lori Falin tasked my Marketing Department colleague Corrie Winton and I with making a "Congratulations, Gary!" banner to celebrate his promotion to full-time Janitor. I was new to KCPL and Gary worked nights, so we hadn't even met yet. I asked Lori for insight into some of his favorite things. An hour later Corrie and I were putting finishing touches on a cool DJ-ing tomato head and getting permanent marker everywhere.

Gary used to run the courier occasionally as a backup, and when the position became open earlier this year, he jumped. "Another reason I like this job, Jai…" was a common phrase in our time together; he truly enjoys driving and being out on the open road. Sometimes he listens to music on his phone. Other times he's content to sit in relative silence and think on things. As we get on the I-64 West toward exit 53, we reminisce about growing up in Charleston (me) and Dunbar (Gary). Both my parents took classes in the Davis Fine Arts building at State, and the area around Institute are some of Gary's old stomping grounds.

It's way before open at Dunbar Branch, so we roll in their deliveries and roll out with bins and bags of books ready to go on to other branches. In the back of the truck, we sort them by location and then stage outgoing bins for our next stop: over the bridge to St. Albans!

Gary's worked in the Facilities Department at KCPL since 2012; he celebrated 10 years of service in December 2022. He worked some of that time at St. Albans, and as we walk up the stairs to take a quick gander at the second floor (not yet open to the public since a small fire and construction for their new elevator), he notices that the buffed floors he used to maintain still shine!

Since school's out, traffic is at a minimum, and this makes Gary's schedule run just that much smoother. We take the 25 West to our affiliate, Nitro Public Library, and at 7:30 AM Manager Lynn Godby-Chin is already there to prop the door open for us and take a minute to catch up. After rolling the cart back and sorting Nitro's outgoing deliveries, we take the back way to Cross Lanes Branch and run into Janitorial Tech Harold Ash. Gary and Harold take a moment to talk shop on a new vacuum cleaner that, apparently, is so powerful it almost walks you!

Next stop: Sissonville! We wind around toward the 622 North, a road deemed "not suitable" for larger trucks, where we keep an eye out for deer (we see 5 or 6) and the occasional oncoming tractor trailer. Luckily, they stay in their lane today. We both seek comfort and peace of mind in the mountains and the winding road, wet from recent rain, and we get to talking on our values. On having gratitude for life, on sites of old jobs and old apartments, on friends and family that have since passed.

After a short break at Sissonville, Gary kicks on the cruise control. On Tuesdays his next stop is Clendenin, which is quite a hike, but on Mondays, his next stop is Elk Valley - also a hike! The air and humidity start to heat up, but we keep the windows rolled down and let the highway carry us cross-county. Coasting past the downtown Charleston exits toward 1-77/79 North, I point out Capitol Hill and Spring Hill Cemetery, where I spent my childhood and angsty teenage years, and the old walkway that they have just about finished tearing down.

Rounding into Clendenin, we make a quick stop at the Kiosk to "discourage" some wasps from nesting, and then roll down the block to Clendenin Branch, where we run into Manager Tammy Parker and Library Assistant Autumn Cox, just arriving to open and start the day. I take a moment to admire their lovely window display of smiley faces, flowers, and peace signs, inspired by this year's Summer Library Club theme, "All Together Now.” Gary jokes with Tammy about how much he's been missing the cakes she used to bake and bring and leave out to share.

If his ringtone and charming whistling notification bell are to be believed, music is Gary's passion. He used to play bass guitar, and when someone showed him how turntables worked, he was hooked. Lately DJ GT shows up Live on Facebook most Saturdays at 8 PM. If you haven't listened in on one of his sets yet, you might wanna!

At Elk Valley Branch we see Administrative Specialist Penny Dawson and Children’s Specialist Sara Caswell for a brief moment before getting back on the road. On Tuesdays Gary takes a special trip to drop off and pick up any interlibrary loan materials at South Charleston Public Library, right when they open at 10 AM. If he has to pick up or drop off at the WV Library Commission, he'll make that stop right about now, too.

Then we get on the 60 East toward Belle and it's on to Riverside Public Library, where the purple of the Riverside High Warriors shines. We say hi to Programming & Outreach Coordinator Nina Bess until the automatic doors rudely attempt to end our banter. There's a bay behind the building where the Bookmobile, when it's in service, is typically parked, and Gary will drop off deliveries for that as well.

On Mondays Gary heads to Glasgow Branch afterwards, which is housed in their Town Hall building, and we pass by a power plant where he used to work. Gary gases up right before Marmet Branch, where he takes his lunch break in their air-conditioned trailer. While he catches up on world news and checks in with his wife, I text my partner and tuck in to the final act of my 600 page epic.

After Marmet it's back to the Main Library, where Gary unloads books and mail for our Circulation Services staff to process, hands materials to Payroll and Accounting Specialist Cecy Kobayasi on the Admin floor, and rides the elevator up to 4 to drop off deliveries for Children's Services, where we check in with Library Assistant Darlene Reynolds. Then it's back down to the truck to redistribute empty blue tubs in Tech Services, hand Lori any anomalous books, and sit down for a short chat. On Monday Lori's got a homegrown onion for Gary and his wife, and the next day Gary reports back that it was cooked up deliciously and enjoyed with gusto.

While Gary takes a break and checks in with Facilities Manager Tim Venitsanos and Facilities Techs Terry Huffman and Steve Mills, I go up to my desk to do some damage control on email and pack up some requested Marketing materials to distribute to branches. At 2:30 I head back down to help Gary pack up circulation materials and load up the truck with tomorrow's deliveries.

Being on the road with Gary is a wonderful reminder that, no matter the highways, state routes, or back roads that separate our 10 or more locations, the KCPL system stays connected in no small part because of the hands of this charismatic fellow. Thanks, Gary, for sharing your route and your stories and a couple of days with me. I bet you miss my biceps!

 

Text and photography © Jai Ravine (2023)