PRINCETON — Ask any Princeton Public Library employee about their colleague Nicholas Stevenson, and the first response you’re bound to receive is a loving smile and a sigh of sincere admiration.

In the short year he has worked at the PPL, it’s clear the hard-working employee, who just happens to be deaf, has made his mark loud and clear.

“Oh, Nicholas is very, very special,” said the PPL’s Carol Lawless. “He just takes such care and does everything so well. He is a great example for all of us and truly a blessing. We love him. He’s such a wonderful young man; I’m proud to work with him.”

Stevenson, a Princeton Senior High School graduate who also studied at the Mercer County Technical Education Center, began his work at the library as a volunteer, just over one year ago. Very quickly, though, it became clear to PPL Director Connie Shumate that the quality of the dedicated young man’s work, coupled with the buoyancy of his spirit, made him an essential addition to her staff.

“He had volunteered less than three months, and I could see that he was phenomenal at what he was doing,” said Shumate. “He pays more attention to detail than anybody else on the staff. Things that we might get too busy and overlook, Nicholas finds them. He’s just such a great member of the staff.”

Stevenson spends most of his time at the PPL shelving, straightening, cleaning and repairing books, tasks that his colleagues say he completes meticulously. Ask him about those jobs, though, and his animated gestures humorously imply that, while he loves his job, he sometimes finds the work a bit ceaseless and tiring.

“He does work very hard,” laughs the PPL’s Kristie Lewis. “He does a little bit of everything, a jack of all trades. Lately, he’s been moving boxes and getting them ready for the new library, and he always gets the books ready to take to the book sales. It is hard work, but he takes a lot of pride in doing it well, and Connie holds him up as an example to all of us for the excellent work that he does.”

The job of keeping the PPL’s shelves straight is indeed never-ending, but that never seems to keep the perpetually friendly and compassionate Stevenson from taking the time to caringly assist library patrons. His colleagues marvel at the ease with which he breaks the communication barrier between himself and hearing patrons, but Nicholas just seems to take it in stride. When asked if communication is difficult, he simply holds thumb and index finger a mere centimeter apart as if to say, “just a little bit.”

“It amazes me how he is able to do that; hardly anyone that comes in knows sign language, but still he’s able to help them locate the books they’re looking for,” said Shumate. “He is just so expressive; he uses his entire body to communicate, and people understand him and he understands them.”

Perhaps that remarkable ability comes from the fact that what Stevenson cannot hear, he somehow makes up for in what he sees, not just visually, but intuitively, as well.

“He sees things that maybe other people don’t see,” said Lewis. “He’ll ask how someone on the staff is doing, and he has this very quizzical look on his face that tells you he has a reason for asking, like he can see something is wrong when probably the rest of us just didn’t even notice.”

And, when something is bothering a PPL staffer, they know they can turn to the kindhearted Stevenson, who is always waiting to comfort with his caring smile and trademark humanity.

“He’s always so caring about the rest of the staff,” said Shumate. “He really wants to know how you’re doing, and he always asks.”

If “kind” is the first word PPL employees use to describe their beloved co-worker, then “funny” would certainly be the second. Laughter never seems to be far from Stevenson’s face, and whether he’s imitating the crazy actions of his favorite “Three Stooges” characters or lovingly chiding Lewis for forgetting some of the sign language she learned years ago, he enjoys the opportunity to inspire laughter in others, as well.

“He’ll lift your spirits every time,” said Lawless.

Lewis agrees.

“Nicholas has a great sense of humor, and I’m always glad to see it,” she said. “I feel like sometimes we miss it, but he really is just so funny.”

He’s also very spirited, and, these days, that spirit shines through when any talk of the soon-to-be-completed new PPL facility begins. His face lights up and an ear-to-ear grin spreads across his face as he signs about his excitement over that brand new building.

“It’s taken a long time to build it, and we’ve been waiting a long time. But when it’s finished, it’s going to be great,” he said.

There’s no doubt that Stevenson, who was honored at a ceremony in Beckley this year when the PPL was awarded a Distinguished Employer Award from the West Virginia Department of Education & the Arts Division of Rehabilitation Services, is a valuable piece of the PPL operations, but library work isn’t his only skill.

He is also a trained and accomplished graphic artist, and an avid bowler. In his free time, he also loves to read, (Garfield comics are his favorite) and he is an active member of the Princeton Church of God.

“When you look at all that Nicholas is, the only way to describe him is remarkable,” said Shumate. “I wish we had more people like him. I wish the world had more people like him.”