This week's Patch Portraits was produced and edited by Lisa Cisneros, Andrea Hart and Allison Williams. Check back on Mondays for the next installment.

Also showcased is Des Plaines resident Mary Long, an innovator who's transforming the way women share their stories.

This year 91-year-old Mary Adair will be celebrating 30 years of volunteering at the Wilmette Public Library.

Adair coordinates the "Armchair Travel" series, which allows residents to explore the world through the journeys of others every Thursday. Of the hundreds of presentations Adair has coordinated, she’s only missed three showings.

Shaped at an early age by the Great Depression, the Philadelphia native acquired a strong commitment to volunteerism through her mother. Adair started out as a candy striper, and continues to serve others by collecting food donations, cards and yarn for the less fortunate. Other major loves in Adair’s life are books, which she has avidly consumed since the age of six. 

“I think, as the kids say, I’m going to keep moving and grooving as long as I’m able to,” Adair said, “If you’re sedentary your brains going to get soggy on you. . . and I won’t let that happen.”