Retired from the Lynden Pioneer Museum at the end of 2021 after 27 years
LYNDEN — After 27 years at the Lynden Pioneer Museum, Troy Luginbill stepped down as the museum’s director and curator last year.
Little did Luginbill know at the time that he would return to where his professional career began.
“My first college job was at a bookstore, the Little Professor Book Center in Gig Harbor on the Kitsap Peninsula,” Luginbill said. “It was supposed to be for the beer money, but I spent more on the books.”
Recently, Luginbill took on a new job. He is now a store manager at Village Books, Lynden. Kiana Allen, one of Luginbill’s colleagues, said his new store manager being a Lynden resident means he’s “more connected to the community”.
“Troy has a lot of roots here,” said Allen, who primarily works at Fairhaven Village Books but works at the Lynden store one day a week.
According to a press release from Village Books, the Lynden site has been without an on-site manager since Anne Slee retired in March 2020.
“It’s definitely been a challenge the past two years,” said Kelly Evert, co-owner of Village Books. “We couldn’t have done this without the support of our community and the hard work of our employees, especially the dedication of Gaye Davis, who has been with the store since we opened it in 2015.”
Luginbill, along with Evert and co-owners Sarah Hutton and Paul Hanson, will work to hire more staff in anticipation of expanded hours and more visitors once the border reopens, the news release said.
“We are excited to implement Troy’s many ideas for our Lynden store,” said Hanson. “Our mission has always been to help tell the story of Billy Waples and continue his beautiful legacy of community building and philanthropy – and Troy has been exploring and sharing his story for nearly three decades.”
For Luginbill, working at Village Books Lynden is like coming home.
“I had heard the owners were looking for a manager for the Lynden store,” Luginbill said. “So I called them. They had heard of me, heard that I had time now. We both thought it would be a good fit.
Village Books explained in the press release that in addition to working at the store full-time, Luginbill will also introduce events and programming to the store’s calendar and help bolster its offerings.
“We are excited to be able to resume hosting events, book groups, writing groups and other community gatherings at our store,” Hutton said.
Luginbill works full hours at Village Books in Lynden on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. On Wednesdays, he works at the Fairhaven store.
Village Books is accepting job applications. You can find them on VillageBooks.com under About/Jobs and you can submit them in person at their Fairhaven or Lynden locations.
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