In 1934, 13-year-old Mark McKee checked out a book from the Mount Clemens Public Library in Mount Clemens, Michigan. That book was A Dog Of Flanders by Marie Louise de la Ramee, AKA Ouida. McKee loved the book so much he never returned it, until his conscience got the better of him 76 years later. Mark McKee mailed the book back to the Mount Clemens Public Library 76 years after he first checked it out.
“I was entranced by the book and kept it with my prized possessions, intending to return it forthwith,” McKee wrote in an accompanying letter. “Thus began a 76-year odyssey of missed opportunity and intention.” McKee, now 89 and living in Chandler, Arizona, was overcome by a fit of guilt when he rediscovered the long-lost book. “My conscience took over.”
Mount Clemens library director Donald Worrell Jr. is more forgiving of McKee than McKee is. “He spent a great amount of time in here. He was very supportive. He was very generous to the library.” While the fine for the overdue book would normally be thousands of dollars, all is forgiven according to Worrell. “We figure the story is better than the money.”
McKee’s copy of A Dog of Flanders and the accompanying letter will be put on display at the library; meanwhile, Worrell and library staff are mailing McKee a new copy of A Dog of Flanders to replace the one he gave back to them.
Tags: A Dog of Flanders, Mark McKee, Marie Louise de la Ramee, Mount Clemens Public Library, man returns library book 76 years later, library book 76 years overdue, Ouida, Chandler, Arizona, Mount Clemens, Michigan, overdue library book, Donald Worrell Jr., overdue books, late fees
