Woman stands in front of the SBVC library wearing a blue scarf

When Angie Gideon’s family drove by San Bernardino Valley College in her youth, she told her father, “I’d like to go to that school someday.” 

She stayed for six decades. 

Gideon retired June 30 after 59 years working at SBVC’s library — 61 years if you count her time as a student employee and substitute staff member. 

“Even now when I’m going to retire, I can’t believe I’m going to retire. This has been my home away from home forever,” she said. 

Gideon’s earlier home was a ranch near the southern tip of Texas, until her family moved in 1959 to Colton, where her father’s family was. She graduated from Colton High School in 1965 and found a job in the SBVC library. 

She earned a degree in art and became a full-time library employee after two years. Its art collection was a draw to working there, along with its main occupants. 

“I fell in love with the library — the books and the students,” said Gideon, who was SBVC’s first Employee of the Year in 1986. “Every year you have new books and new students. So I never got bored. I love my job.” 

The library building “was beautiful,” she said. “Everything was wood.” Gideon has worked in three library buildings and seen the advance of history and technology. She signed deferments for students who were drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, worked with students known as “boat people” who fled Vietnam, and remembers when public figures like President Bill Clinton and Dolores Huerta visited campus. 

The library also opened the world of travel to her through Thursday night “travelogue” presentations. She has been to countries like China and Israel. 

The library remained home throughout those travels. 

“The people here were so nice — cafeteria workers, groundsmen, everybody,” she said. “So I thought, what a place to be, where everybody’s friendly and helpful.” 

More than six decades ago, Gideon’s father called her a dreamer for wanting to attend SBVC. 

“And you know what? The dream came true,” she said.