Join us for the First Annual Alexandria Library Foundation Author Presentation and Reception on Thursday, September 21st. Senator Mark Warner serves as Honorary Chair for this event. The Author Event not only marks the anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the homecoming of our POWs from Southeast Asia, it also raises funds for needed materials and programs at Our Library.

The presentation will be emceed by Councilman John Taylor Chapman and spotlight authors Taylor Baldwin Kiland (long-time Alexandrian and former Naval officer) and Judy Silverstein Gray (Coast Guard veteran and former journalist). Their newly published book Unwavering: The Wives Who Fought to Ensure No Man is Left Behind will be the focus of the evening, with a panel discussion led by Kiland featuring co-author Gray, POW wives from the book, and the first American aviator taken captive in Vietnam:

Andrea Rander of Bethesda, wife of Army Sgt. Don Rander, an intelligence specialist captured during the 1968 Tet Offensive,

Emilee Reynolds, also of Bethesda, whose then fiancé, Air Force Capt. Jon Reynolds, was shot down and taken prisoner three weeks before their wedding.

The Hon. Everett Alvarez, Jr., also of Bethesda, who was captured during the Tonkin Gulf Incident in 1964. He was held captive for eight and a half years, enduring one of the longest periods of captivity in U.S. military history. He later served as a political appointee for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, William Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

"Military families serve their country too,” Kiland reminds us. “Spouses and kids must endure long separations, knowing their loved ones are in harm's way. They endure frequent moves and must repeatedly find new homes, new neighborhoods, and new schools. Outside of school, how does a military family get integrated into a new community? The local library! It can provide a warm, safe, and welcoming place to read and learn. And that library can also be the place where a military family new to town makes lasting friendships -- old and young -- and finds those community connections not made anywhere else."

Tickets for the event are $100 each and include seating for the author presentation, a complimentary copy of the featured book, and a reception with hors d'oeuvres and drinks.

We hope you will join us for this important event.

For additional information, please contact Michele Stork at 703-212-8129 or [email protected].