A library love story: Former McMaster librarians bequeath $1.1 million to place they met and fell in love

They met in an unlikely place: a quiet library.

But it would only take a few months before Carol and Victor Nunn, career librarians at McMaster University, went from jovial colleagues to budding sweethearts.

They just did everything together," remembers Bronwen Galloway, Carol's sister. They liked each other very much, right away."

For 30-plus years on campus, they were inseparable - two familiar, welcoming faces with a zest for life and literature, known to students, faculty and staff across the university.

Vivian Lewis, who first met Carol and Victor as an intern in 1991, recalled them to be as central to Mac's library as books themselves.

They were married by the time I got there," says Lewis, now head librarian at McMaster. They both had this great passion for building collections and catalogues, building legacy for the library."

Victor, who went by Vic, died in 2019 at age 80. Carol passed a year later at 83.

Both of their obituaries noted a love for McMaster - but their legacy at the university will far outlast a few inches of newspaper text.

The couple left in their wills nearly $1.1 million for McMaster University Library, one of the largest gifts in the library's recent history.

In some ways, it didn't surprise me," says Lewis, calling the gift a tremendous" act of generosity. Their passion for the university library was evident throughout their retirement. They would regularly return to campus for events, public talks and celebrations."

The pair retired from McMaster in the late '90s and spent their post-work lives delving into books and travelling through Europe and Canada - but they did not forget their roots.

They got very involved, of course, during their careers, but also with McMaster retirees after they left," says Galloway, who was aware a gift to the school was bequeathed in the couple's wills. Most of their friends were colleagues at the library, and that carried on after their retirement."

After a year that saw post-secondary schools across the country financially hard-hit by COVID-19, Lewis says the gift comes at a good time.

These kinds of gifts are always so appreciated because it allows you to do that little bit more, to purchase things that you wouldn't ordinarily have had the opportunity to purchase."

The money will go toward building on the legacy Carol and Victor began with their work at the library more than three decades ago.

To honour their life and work," says Lewis, it's about building for and building for the future.

They have created a legacy that will help students, faculty and community members for generations to come."

Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com