DECATUR - For somebody with an eventful life, Beverly Williams is pretty low-key.

At 16, she dropped out of school and married a month later. By 18, she was divorced and had two children. She married and divorced a second time, earned her GED and an associate's degree and worked as a program representative with the state of Illinois' unemployment office.

"Somewhere along the line, I learned to fly an airplane," she said.

Williams retired in May after working for Decatur schools for nine years, serving as a substitute for five of those years and four as library assistant at Harris School. The title may read "assistant," Williams said, but she's the only person there.

"We do whatever is asked of us," she said. "Whatever a normal librarian would do, we can do it."

Library assistants have the freedom to create programs, she said, and one of hers was a monthly reading contest that encouraged the students to read books they might never see otherwise.

"The last time, they had to check out a book on the environment," Williams said. "Every one who did what I asked got a reward."

Rewards ranged from a pizza party to books to Popsicles - expensive at times, but worth it, she said.

At 75, Williams still isn't ready to take it easy. She wants more free time, she said, but not too much. So she's going back to substitute teaching and planning to volunteer with Youth With a Positive Direction and Camp One Way.

"The grandchildren are to the point where they really don't need me financially," she said. "So I just decided to retire. I think it was a hasty thing for me to do, really."

Harris School held a "Beverly Williams Day" on May 13. The idea pleased Williams, but embarrassed her a little, too.

"I don't know why they did that," she said with a laugh.

Williams has faced her share of adversity, too. Her son died from cancer at age 51, and she was there holding him as he died. She still can't speak of it without tears.

Still, Williams inspires her daughter, Jeanne Hackney, who works for the Illinois Department of Public Aid.

"Just because you had a slow start doesn't mean you have to have a slow finish," Hackney said.

One of Hackney's clients has several children and is determined to earn a high school diploma - not a GED - and enroll at Richland Community College, Hackney said. She told that client about her mother to encourage her to keep working toward her goal.

"(My mother) touches a lot of people's lives by her generosity," Hackney said. "She'd give you the shirt off her back. When she goes to garage sales, she buys things for everybody else."

Williams has told her that when she dies, for her memorial she wants people to donate books to schools instead of sending flowers, and Hackney has also been collecting the cards that students write to Williams as a memento of her influence on them.

"She's very opinionated, and I follow in her footsteps, I'm afraid," Hackney said, laughing. "She's a good woman and she loves people, loves life, loves the Lord and is doing what she can to make a positive impact."

Valerie Wells can be reached at vwells@herald-review.com or 421-7982.