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Alex Cabrero ReportingUtah State's Merrill Library is a popular place for police officers these days, that's because it's about to be torn down. So for now, it's a perfect training, but for two former students, seeing the end of the building reminds them of their beginning.
It's always been said guys like blowing stuff up and playing with big toys, but for the Utah State bomb squad, this is really practice.
Tom Graham, USU Project Director: "This building was deemed unsafe by the state legislature and the building's board."
So before it's torn down, USU's Merrill Library is the perfect spot for police and firefighter training.
Tom Graham: "Yeah, kind of sad to see it go."
Even though there's a brand new beautiful library to replace this old one that's now nothing but a mess, at least two former students are sad to see this library go.
Blythe Ahlstrom, Former Utah St. Student: "You'd come up this stairway to go to the library or to the classes on the next floor."
Blythe and Anne Ahlstrom were students here in 1956 and can remember the library well. Most of it is now gone, but for the Ahlstroms, this place means more than just books and more books. In a place where you could find out anything, Blythe and Anne found each other.
Blythe Ahlstrom: "I saw her coming out of the door right there."
Anne Ahlstrom: "Oh yeah, he was very nice."
In the middle of that crowded hallway 50 years ago, Blythe and Anne had their first words.
Blythe Ahlstrom: "I never dated anybody else after I met her here in this building."
Anne Ahlstrom: "Well, he is romantic, always has been a romantic."
He's so romantic, when he heard the library was being torn down, he just had to get something to remember it by.
Blythe Ahlstrom: "I managed to get the piece of marble that was closest to where I remember we first met."
A year after that meeting they were married.
Anne Ahlstrom: "He was very sweet. I chose him because I knew he's going to be a good daddy, a good husband, and he has been."
So even though the old Merrill Library is about to come down, a piece of it will always last.
Anne Ahlstrom: "It's been a good 49 years of marriage."
The old library should be completely torn down within the next couple of weeks.
