Longtime Soldotna resident Rosie Reeder died last month following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. In honor of Reeder, who was fittingly a voracious reader, River City Books is giving away books up to a $10 value to the first 180 kids who come into the bookstore with the code word “Rosie.”
Maria Dixson, who works at River City Books, estimated 70 kids came into the store today.
“I usually come into work at noon and Peggy called me about quarter of 11 and said, ‘Can you please come into work early?’ And I got here and she was buried. It was a very very active day here today," she said.
Reeder moved to the peninsula from Anchorage in 1976, working as a teacher for several years. When Triumvirate Theater moved into the Peninsula Center Mall in 2005, Reeder was recruited to run the conjoint bookstore.
Revenue from the store supported the theater company in its early stages. Earlier this year, Triumvirate named the new green room addition in their current North Kenai building after her — the Rosie Reeder Room.
Reeder’s daughter, Rhonda McCormick, of Soldotna, said her mom usually read multiple books at a time, across genres. She was a member of a book club that’s been meeting for 25 years.
“And her house was filled with books," she said. "And so as we started going through her house, every single room had a bookcase of books in it. And then books stashed here and there. And even though we knew she loved to read, we were really surprised at how many books were stashed away everywhere.”
For a few years, Reeder also ran a kids reading group at the Soldotna Public Library.
“One day, one of the kids says, ‘Did they make you change your name?’ And my mom was like, ‘What?’ And she’s like, ‘Reeder! So you could run the reading group!’ It was pretty funny," McCormick said.
Stop into River City Books with the code “Rosie.” And hurry — books are flying off the shelves.