Bertha Meadows Caston was born April 19, 1890, in Keyton, Alabama. Her parents were Jason Miles Meadows and Emma Josephine Stevens. Bertha Caston attended the public schools in Keyton, Alabama. Upon graduation from high school in 1911, she began teaching at Sweetwater, Alabama, now known as Fleeta. Between the years of 1911 and 1923, she taught at Farmer’s Academy, County Line, Brooklyn, Sellers, Poley, Luverne and Red Level. During these years she continued her education during the summers at Troy State Normal. She received her professional library training in 1926 from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. She also attended Montevallo College for Women and business school at Winter Haven, Florida.
In 1926 Bertha accepted the position of secretary/librarian with the Opp City School system, becoming the first librarian at Opp High School. From 1932 until 1936 she taught third grade. On August 1, 1936, she married Cora Lee Caston. After her marriage, she retired from the teaching profession because only unmarried women were allowed to teach at that time.
The Opp Public Library was formed in 1934, and Bertha worked there on a volunteer basis until 1942. As there was no money for books, a house-to-house canvass was made which netted some six hundred volumes as gifts. Bertha volunteered her services for cataloging. The Dewey Decimal System was incorporated from the beginning, and under Bertha’s direction, the club women of the town took on the task of annotating, cardmaking, etc. in order to establish a well-organized library. When money was finally available, Bertha was employed as librarian from 1942 until 1945.
After a brief interruption in her library work, Bertha was reappointed Head Librarian of the Opp Public Library in 1949. She was appointed Acting Director of the Covington-Crenshaw Regional Library Service in 1953. She was then appointed Headquarters Librarian in 1955. After 41 years of dedicated service, eight of these volunteer services, Bertha Caston retired as Head Librarian of the Opp Public Library and as Headquarters Librarian of the Cross Trails Regional Library Service.
Bertha was a charter member of the Sorosis Club of Opp and served as President and Secretary of that organization. She was an active member of the Opp Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was one of the original members of the Opp Church of Christ, her membership spanning more than seventy years. Many of those years were spent teaching a Bible class. At 95 she still attends church regularly.
The contribution made by “Miss Bertha” is summed up in service to people. She served for four decades as Opp’s librarian, and for many of those years there were no funds available for salaries or library materials. Despite these difficult circumstances, she kept the library going, borrowing books and research materials from the Alabama Public Library Service for Opp students and club personnel.
The fact that the headquarters for the Cross Trails Regional Library Service is in Opp is largely due to the groundwork done by Bertha Caston. Through the years she had worked to build the book collection in the Opp Public Library. As a result of her work, Opp not only had the largest basic collection of books in the five-county region, but the collection was correctly cataloged and organized according to proper library procedure. Because of her diligent efforts, local government officials were moved to support library service and to seek the location of the Regional Library Service here.
“Miss Bertha” took an interest in each boy and girl who used the Opp Public Library, and every adult as well. She had a deep love for reading, a respect for knowledge and a desire to share. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985.
