Obituaries

Author was a four-time Edgar Award winner

Joan Lowery Nixon, who wrote more than 140 books for young people and won the Edgar Award for best mystery novel an unprecedented four times, died of cancer June 28 at the age of 76.

Nixon was best known for her many teen mysteries, including A Deadly Game of Magic (Dell, 1985) and The Kidnapping of Christina Lattimore (Harcourt, 1979). She also wrote several series of children's historical novels, including Colonial Williamsburg (Delacorte) and the Orphan Train Adventures (Dell Yearling), which won two Golden Spur awards from the Western Writers of America. Nixon also helped the Girl Scouts of America establish a merit badge in writing. Born in Los Angeles, she spent her adult life in Houston.

Veteran of school library system

Jane Strebel, who directed the libraries of the Minneapolis school district from the mid-1950s until her retirement in 1975, died June 10 in Minneapolis at the age of 89.

When Strebel began working for the district, most elementary schools had no libraries and borrowed books from the Minneapolis Public Library. Strebel established libraries in all of the city's schools and recruited librarians to lead them.

"She created such a bond between the librarians," Helen Stub, a longtime friend and retired librarian, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "She knew how to get the best out of the people."