Supporters Like You

Long-time Phinney residents Susan and Glen Beebe had a plan. They both chose their favorite nonprofits and decided to include gifts to the organizations as part of their wills.
Susan, a retired lawyer/librarian who visits the Greenwood branch every week, chose The Seattle Public Library. Glen, a retired graphic designer, chose his alma mater, Northern Colorado University.

Then they had second thoughts. The couple instead decided to make their gifts during their lifetime. They chose to create named endowments at their respective organizations so their gifts would last in perpetuity.
“Borrowing a line from television, it’s the gift that keeps on giving,” said Glen. “The endowment support will allow our gift to adapt to change over time. It’s not just one and done. Plus, we can start to see the impact we are making.”

Susan and Glen remain active with the Library. Susan has volunteered for the Homework Help program and Glen recently helped support the digitization of the Helix, a biweekly newspaper founded in 1967 that is now available in digital format at SPL.org.

The Susan and Glen Beebe Library Fund will now benefit the library for years to come!

As a child, Debra Jarvis loved her local library. She rode her bike to the local branch and would pick up stacks of books. On one occasion, a book of poetry by John Keats fell from her bicycle basket and into a puddle. Not knowing what to do, the 12-year-old Jarvis simply returned the book, worried that she would get in trouble.

Unbeknownst to her, the librarian called her father and reported the book had been damaged. Her father paid for the damaged book and months later, he gave the copy to her as a Christmas gift, supporting her love of books.

It’s a gift that Debra cherishes, and to this day, she holds the book and the $3 payment receipt with great pride.

“I didn’t have the easiest childhood,” said Debra. “Books introduced me to different worlds. I simply couldn’t get enough, and they made me want to be adventurous.”

Throughout her life, Debra realized her dreams to travel and be adventurous. She loved reading and grew to love writing. She now writes books that help readers discover new worlds just as she did. She has written five books including a memoir about her own journey with cancer.

Now a hospital chaplain at the UW Medical Center, Debra credits libraries for helping her become the person she is today. She checks out books for personal and professional use, and she still loves poetry, thanks in part to Keats’ influence.

Several years ago, Debra was at the Lake City Branch when she learned about the Foundation’s campaign to support a renovation. She jumped at the chance to give and has been a passionate donor ever since.

“When you support the library, you’re supporting a potential world of adventure. I just have to give!”

Sara Miller’s home library—the NewHolly Branch—may have been closed during COVID, but she and her family used the library as much as ever!

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop Sara Miller and her 7-year-old daughter, Hazel, from checking books out. The family became heavy users of the Libby app, a service provided by The Seattle Public Library, as well as curbside service at the Rainier Beach branch.

“It’s amazing,” says Sara, a social worker at Casey Family Programs. “We’ve been really happy with the library.”

Sara, with the encouragement of a friend, participated in Summer Book Bingo and read about 25 books between July and September. Hazel completed the kids’ version.

“It definitely made me stretch and I discovered some really cool authors,” says Sara, who has also explored new titles using the “Your Next 5 Books” service.

For these reasons and more, Sara has become a Page Turner for The Seattle Public Library Foundation, giving a designated amount every month to maintain a continuous contribution to the library her family relies on. She has also joined the Library Legacy Society, designating the Foundation as a beneficiary in her will.

“This is a place that most folks can access and it’s a public service that we definitely love supporting,” Sara says.

Both Sara and her husband grew up going to the library and they’ve come to find a sense of community at the NewHolly Branch, running into neighbors there and getting to know library staff.

“I’m so thankful to be doing a lot of reading now, especially in these times when things are so stressful,” Sara says.

Sara and her husband have passed that passion on to Hazel, who will sometimes fall asleep amid a pile of books.

Hazel enjoys the “Ordinary People Change the World” series of books by Brad Meltzer and has recently read about strong women such as Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Malala Yousafzai. “I really want her to grow up with a critical mind,” Sara says.

Reading is something that not only the family can enjoy together—but that they can also share with their entire community.

Jed Fowler says you don’t need to be a “brainiac” to volunteer at the Library’s Homework Help program.

As a longtime Homework Helper and Foundation supporter, he says his role consists of “part cheerleader, part coach, part roadblock diagnostics. Sometimes it’s about the homework, sometimes it’s about the helping.”

Homework Help is an after-school drop-in program for K-12 youth that supports thousands of students each year. Jed and his wife, Elisabeth Beaber, volunteered for more than eight years as Homework Helpers at the Douglass-Truth Branch in the Central District. Elisabeth was inspired by her ancestry to start volunteering. Her grandfather immigrated through Ellis Island and never attended high school, but he emphasized the importance of education with his own children. An epidemiologist, Elisabeth says it’s her way of “paying it forward.” Jed, president of H.D. Fowler Company in Bellevue, joined in shortly after Elisabeth started. Self-described math specialists, they split weekly shifts so they each volunteer once every other week.

“What I really enjoy is talking to high schoolers about their aspirations and ambitions,” she says. “I like to share my path and hope it gives students some ideas.”

The family and the H.D. Fowler company continue to regularly support The Seattle Public Library Foundation.

Lynn Frances Guthrie, a longtime donor to The Seattle Public Library Foundation, has dedicated her life to literacy. Regular visits to the public library in New York City were part of her upbringing, and she remembers feeling the value of storytelling from a young age.

Today she operates READ WRITE LEARN, where for more than 15 years she has helped scores of young people in South Seattle improve their reading and writing skills. Guthrie often brings her students on field trips to The Seattle Public Library’s Columbia Branch and encourages them to participate in summer reading programs.

Recently, Guthrie began searching for a wider-reaching way to promote a love of books and learning, particularly for students from communities with the least access to educational resources. When she read about the Foundation’s Endowment Giving program, it planted the seed for her to consider a form of giving she’d never imagined.

“Not only did the Foundation encourage me to define and refine how I wanted my gift to be used, but it became clear that with their expertise, experience, and effort, my goals would be accomplished,” Guthrie said.

She has now established the READ WRITE LEARN Endowed Fund for Children and Youth Programs. The endowment will support learning programs for children for generations to come.

Guthrie frequently hears from her students about how much they value teachers reading to them and introducing them to new books. She sees the potential for more engagements like the donor-supported Global Reading Challenge, for which she regularly reads along with her participating students.

“The idea is that the library isn’t just something people use, it becomes a part of kids’ lives,” she said. “What’s important is to make children and their families aware of how the Library can serve them.”

Sarai, a high school senior with college on the horizon, has studied with Guthrie since second grade. She hopes the READ WRITE LEARN Endowed Fund creates more experiences like hers. Dedicated support with reading and writing helped her to build vocabulary and become a better student.

“I hope this will bring a lot more opportunities for students to become great leaders in their lives,” Sarai said.

Guthrie is grateful for the chance to leave a legacy of support for young people like Sarai. Thanks to her fund, many more Seattle students will experience the wonders of the library. “In the words of Jorge Luis Borges, ‘the library will endure; it is the universe,’” she said. “And I am proud to be a part of ensuring its endurance.”

Pamela Dore is a longtime supporter of The Seattle Public Library. As part of her estate plans, she’s planned for a future endowment to honor her mother, Barbara Edwina Dore, who instilled a love of libraries in the family early on.

“My mother was a lifelong lover of libraries and an enthusiastic volunteer,” Pamela said. “My brother and I knew the Dewey Decimal System before we knew arithmetic. We fell in love with Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, and National Geographic. We did our homework there. We learned to play chess and read maps. But there was nothing more magical than walking out of the library with a big stack of new discoveries. Oh, how the world would open up for us!”

Pamela’s endowment honors her mom’s legacy and will generate a steady, reliable source of income for the library − forever.

Art Burrill’s involvement with the Foundation began after his wife, Nancy, passed away in 2014. Nancy was a much beloved elementary school teacher who started her career as a school librarian. She was an avid reader and used the library to augment her lesson plans. “I would go in to pick up her holds and she would have 20 books there,” Art recalls.

Their friends thought that the best memorial to Nancy would be supporting The Seattle Public Library and Art agreed. Many people who loved Nancy contributed in her name to a fund for books and materials for the West Seattle branch.

Art decided that the next step was to include The Seattle Public Library Foundation in his estate plan.

“I think the library is an excellent place for everyone in our community—young people, older people, families. It’s a source of information and resources that people can use to improve their lives.”

Art is a retired steamfitter who keeps busy with a full schedule of running and bicycling. In fact, he’s a member of the Seattle to Portland bike ride Hall of Fame, having completed more than 30 rides! While he’s also a reader, Art especially enjoys checking out DVDs from the Library to watch during the winter when he works out indoors on his stationary bike.

The Foundation thanks Art and all the other generous donors who have included The Seattle Public Library Foundation in their will or estate plan. It’s an investment that will make the library a better place for generations to come.

Eleanor Owen remembered the first book she could ever read—in 1927. It was called simply “My Reader,” and it had an olive green cover. When her teacher handed out these books to all the students, she asked the pupils to write in their names in cursive.

“I wrote my name in it and I felt so proud,” Eleanor recalled. “I had this beautiful book—and I hadn’t learned to read yet.”

The teacher pointed to every word and read them aloud—and that began Eleanor’s love affair with reading.

“The rush, the thrill of learning—I couldn’t wait until I got home and I screamed to my mother, ‘I can read!’” she said.

Born to Italian immigrant parents in New York, she didn’t have books in her family home. So she and her mother read “My Reader” together.

Eleanor was an 18-year donor to the Foundation before she passed in February of 2022 at the young age of 101. During her 100^th birthday year, she said, “I love the library, I use it constantly.”

She was an avid reader, an active book club member, and a regular visitor to the University Branch. She even wrote a 78,000-word memoir about growing up in an immigrant family during Prohibition and the Great Depression.

Additionally, she taught creative drama to preschool-age students at the Columbia Branch of the library for several years.

In explaining why it’s so important for her to give to the Foundation, Eleanor said, “I want it to remain a symbol of America’s best impulses.”

“The library has everything that I admire,” she once said. “It’s educational, it’s social, it’s generous, it’s kind, it’s quiet—it’s all those wonderful things.”