A Life Rich Enough to Fill a Book

Whether advocating for democratic elections in Africa or fighting to keep the Westport Public Library open all summer long, Westporter Martha Aasen shows conviction to each call for leadership.

In 1989, she was asked to sign a waiver of her personal safety when she directed the largest polling place in Namibia. She was serving as an official United Nations representative then in an historic election ending de facto apartheid in that African nation.

Aasen, who's now the current president of the Westport Public Library Board of Trustees, did not hesitate to sign the waiver, despite the risks of potential civil discord and violence.

"It was 107 degrees the first morning, reaching 109 at midday, and the polling place had been targeted" as a possible site for disruption, Aasen said. "It was difficult."

She was inspired to assist in the elections because some of the people of Namibia would walk for days just to reach their polling places. Until 1978, only citizens of white European descent were allowed to participate in national elections.

To Aasen's satisfaction, the five-day election passed without an untoward event.

Aasen is passionate about democratic elections. A Westport resident since 1964, she has devoted years of volunteer service to the League of Women Voters.

As an elections representative of the United Nations, which was supervising the "liberation election" in Namibia, her years of volunteer service in Westport and nationally for the League of Women Voters served her well.

Just as she showed dedication to those elections in 1989, she is now dedicated to the future of the Westport Public Library. On Monday, the Westport Representative Town Meeting will consider whether to reinstate the $45,000 which was cut from the library's budget by the Board of Finance.

If the funding is not reinstated, the library faces as many as 16 Sunday closures, the first in its history, Aasen said in an interview on Friday.

Eighty percent of the funding for the library comes from the town budget and the rest is privately raised. Aasen has headed a public and behind-the-scenes drive to win the RTM's support.

Keeping a heavily-booked schedule, Aasen has secured the approval of the RTM's Library, Music and Arts and Finance committees to restore the $45,000 budget cut.

"We need 25 votes," said Aasen, who has served as Westport's chairwoman of the Democratic Town Committee and has been a member of the statewide Democratic Committee as well as a member of the RTM from 1975 to 1977.

"Ironically, in these difficult economic times we at the library are busier than we ever have been," Aasen says, referring to heavy readership of The New York Times and magazines (a result of subscription cancellations by many) and robust attendance at the library's diverse free events.

The Board of Finance originally cut $100,000 from the library's budget, but $55,000 was spared when an employee left without replacement and two employees elected not to take health care benefits.

That leaves the budget in a bare-bones state, she said.

For Aasen, it's all about devotion to the public library for which she has served as a trustee for nine years.

A passion for books is in her genes, she says, sharing memories of growing up in Lake, Mississippi, population 500, where her parents lent their book collection to the "itty-bitty" public library so that others could share their pleasures.

When Aasen came north to work for a trade publication in New York City as a young graduate who majored in English and art at the University of Mississippi (by way of two years of study at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Va.), she brought her devotion to books, her sonorous southern accent and exquisite manners with her.

Once in retirement from publishing, she was able to be a League of Women's Voters leader, a position which she says "catapulted" her to attention when she organized a forum at the UN. So many people signed up to attend that the meeting was held in the General Assembly room - with Aasen assuming the seat of the Secretary General. She says it was the largest non-government event ever held at the UN at that time.

She was quickly sought out to take a formal position with the UN (an unusual honor in an organization that usually promotes from within) which led to a senior position in the UN's Department of Public Information - and her trip to Namibia.

Aasen has since monitored elections in Guatemala and assisted with university development in Botswana and Bulgaria. An elaborate hand-carved "tree of life" she bought on one of her visits to Africa is a treasure she displays to visitors to her home.

Aasen's term on the library Board of Trustees expires in July and because of term limits she will then become a trustee emerita.

Not surprisingly, Aasen promises to heed calls for library leadership when they come in.