February 4, 2025 // Diocese

Beloved Queen of Angels Librarian Turns 90

“Mrs. Beltz! Mrs. Beltz!” students at Queen of Angels Catholic School in Fort Wayne shouted as the beloved librarian walked into the classroom. Every week during the school year, Mary Beltz, who has served at Queen of Angels for 50 years, reads storybooks to the children, and turning 90 years old was no occasion for a day off, as on Thursday, January 30, Beltz visited the kindergarten classroom, where the students sang her “Happy Birthday.”

Mary Beltz, a former librarian at Queen of Angels Catholic School in Fort Wayne, reads a story to a class of kindergarteners on Thursday, January 30.

It all began when Beltz was looking for a school for her only son, Andy. Through word of mouth, she heard Queen of Angels was a small, close-knit environment, and she decided to enroll him, eventually opting to work at the school.

Beltz became the school librarian, a position in which she served for more than 40 years, helping out in other capacities for a few more.

Still known for her root-beer float stand at the school carnival, she told Today’s Catholic that she sincerely loves the school, its students, and its faculty.

Photos by Clare Hildebrandt
Mary Beltz poses with a group of kindergarteners at Queen of Angels Catholic School in Fort Wayne. Beltz, a retired librarian for the school, still comes to Queen of Angels once a week to read to students.

“I used to tell the kids … at the school that if you can’t be here as a student, I feel sorry for you,” she said. “A lot of my students went and got married and brought their own children. I have a girl who is in eighth grade, and her mother and grandmother also went here.”

When meditating on the past, it was the blizzard of 1978 that stuck out for Beltz.

“There was so much snow, and when it melted, you quite literally needed a boat. We didn’t go back to school for at least two weeks,” she said.

Queen of Angels Principal Dennis Wiegmann hugs former school librarian Mary Beltz following Mass on Thursday, January 30. The parish community celebrated Beltz’s 90th birthday.

Queen of Angels Principal Dennis Wiegmann recognized Beltz after an all-school Mass on the day she turned 90, calling her a “beloved member of the school.”

At 90, Beltz said she looks forward to the future and plans on reading to students, like always.

Clare Hildebrandt is a staff reporter for Today’s Catholic.

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