It wasn't unusual for Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz to draw a steady stream of adults and kids to the Perrot Memorial Library in Old Greenwich, Conn.

But not like this.

"Everyone is dropping by and leaving mementos and leaving their thoughts," a somber Kevin McCarthy, director of the Perrot Library, said in a telephone interview Thursday. "Children are writing little notes. Lots of people are bringing flowers."

Days before, in Denver, the two women had been among the more celebrated presences at the annual meeting of the Association for Library and Information Science Education. As McCarthy put it, "Kate and Kathy were renowned in children's literature."

On Wednesday, the two women were heading for DIA and home when their cab rolled after being sideswiped by a suspected drunken driver. Both women died.

Since then, grief for "Mrs. Mac" and "Mrs. K" has spread fast throughout the close-knit world of professional storytellers and over the country's well-connected network of library services.

"That people are shocked, stunned and reeling is an accurate assessment," said Carol Foote, executive director of the Chicago-based Association for Library Service to Children, where McClelland had just been named a national vice president.

McClelland, 71, was mentor to Krasniewicz, 54, and was pleased to see the younger woman replace her as Perrot's head of youth services in 2007.

They remained inseparable colleagues who usually traveled to conferences together. So it was no surprise they were in the same cab heading for home: "They were like peas in a pod," Foote said.

Friends described McClelland as a flamboyant redhead with spiky hair, a quick wit and a great sense of style, whose dramatic shawls and bursts of color added stature to her small frame. She also contributed book reviews to The New York Times.

Krasniewicz reflected the refined world of Connecticut horse country. Miriam Budin, a librarian from Chappaqua, N.Y., recalled, "She was very elegant, tall and stylish. I was shocked to learn she was over 50 years old."

Krasniewicz apparently made no secret of preferring gentler settings.

After a library gathering in gritty New York, Krasniewicz, who leaves a husband of 30 years and three children, laughingly turned down future visits and joked to her daughter, who lives in the city, "You can come visit me."

Both women were celebrated storytellers. Marilyn O'Connor Miller, a member of the Connecticut Storytelling Center, said McClelland booked her a number of times for Perrot Library events. She and McClelland lost their husbands within a few years of each other, "and we commiserated together," Miller said.

Like many others, Miller's immediate thoughts went to McClelland's style and quick wit.

"It's hard to be kind and funny - but Kate was both," she said.