Barbara Longova passed on her love of reading to her son, daughter, and three grandchildren, and when thinking of ways to honor her after she died unexpectedly, it just made sense to the family that they go to the bookstore.
Like she did when her own kids were young, Longova would take her grandchildren to pick out books before Christmas, then wrap them and put them under the Christmas tree. When Longova died in November 2015, her daughter, Nicole White, told Today they couldn't imagine this tradition coming to an end, so they came up with an idea: To honor Longova, the family would place $5 bills in random books, along with a note explaining it was in memory of their beloved "Oma," who instilled in them her love of reading. The note encouraged the person who found the money to use it to buy a book of their choice.
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