A brief History of the Crestline Friends of the Library
by Gloria Anderson - 1989
In the beginning, there were three.....
The first meeting of the Crestline Friends of the library was held on February 29, 1974 when the Library was located on Crest Forest Drive. According to the minutes the attendees were Lillian Pascoe, Gloria Anderson and Ronnie Deasy.
Early activities consisted of needlework classes and discussion groups. As new members joined, the officiating group in 1975-1976 was Ronnie Deasy as President, Madelyn Johnston as Treasurer, Nancy Brown as Secretary with Gloria Anderson doing the newsletter. In 1976, Cherie Van Buskirk volunteered to be Treasurer and Gloria Anderson became President. Other worthy officers over the next few years were Evelyn Swift as Treasurer in 1979, Fran Ming as Secretary in 1980 and Jeanne Worthy in 1985.
The Crest Forest location was one of three locations for the Friends until they reached their current location which was in 1975. The second location was on Lake Drive in 1975 then on to Forest Shade in 1979. Then in 1986, Friends moved to their current location on Knapps Cutoff which was the old Post Office
The Friends first Book Sale happened in 1975 and they made $100. In 1978, the Book Sales were held on the July 4th weekend. The first Labor Day weekend sale was in 1981 and the Friends they made $200. In 1982, the Friends made $600. and in 1987 almost $800. These sales still go on every Labor Day weekend today netting approximately $2,000.
The very first July 4th Parade the Friends participated in was in 1976 for the Bicentennial. The flatbed truck they used held a large Uncle Sam hat surrounded by children with smaller hats. The next year had the children all dressed as their favorite storybook character led by Mother Goose, Veronica Deasy, the energetic Librarian.
Traditionally, the friends have raised funds to purchase books for children, young adults and adults as well as help fund Library activities such as special Reading Programs. Of late, the computer world has entered our Library system so expenses are spent on computers and computer software. Let's not forget the DVD collection which has grown substantialy over the last couple years.
In August of 1989, Ronnie Deasy retired as Librarian and was replaced by Betty Chamberlin who was the Librarian for a number of years thereafter. Then, Jeanette Bryant, Jake Zylman and now Lauren Lane is the Branch Librarian and is an active participant in the activities of the Crestline Friends of the Library.
