Published: May 03, 2009 11:30 pm      

Person of the week: Volunteer spearheads new library

Patricia Willett and her fellow volunteers at the Patton Public Library have been building up the library for years through their hard work.

The time has come to build a new building to store the fruits of their labor.

Willett, a member of the library’s board of directors, is leading the effort to build a new library on Magee Avenue in Patton that will be more than

2 1/2 times the size of the current library, also on Magee Avenue.

With a price tag of less than $800,000, the new library, unlike the old one, will have a community room, Willett said.

The Friends of the Patton Library undoubtedly will develop more programs for the new building, Willett said.

Willett said they hope to begin construction of the one-story, 4,068-square-foot library in August or September and move in next year.

She said they began to think about a new library in 2006 when the late Irene Micklick Sauter, a Patton native, bequeathed $200,000 to the library.

The current library lacks space for expansion and has problems with accessibility for the handicapped.

The library acquired a $400,000 state grant with Willett consulting with professionals and government officials to determine the scope of the project.

The library also received an anonymous donation of $7,000 from a foundation.

Library volunteers are in the midst of a fund drive to raise the remainder of the money.

A big help was the donation by First Commonwealth Bank of a lot next to the lot that

the library purchased. One lot was not large enough for the new building.

“We were overwhelmed with their (bank’s) generosity,” Willett said.

The library also has been awarded grants recently from Penelec and Wal-Mart to purchase a microfilm reader that currently is in use.

Willett said writing the grant was a lot of work and that it couldn’t have been accomplished without the help of Mary Lou Repsher, Johnstown District Library consultant; Patton library board members Donna Depto and Patricia Ridinger; and Monica Burkhart, Patton library director.

Willett said a new library with room to grow will serve residents better.

“A library offers residents all types of entertainment from books to movies to magazines, local newspapers and audio books,” she said. “We have computers for researching jobs and for sending e-mails.

Willett said her husband, Martin, had been a big help to her during the library project.

For her efforts, Willett, a Patton resident and a retired records supervisor at the State Correctional Institution, Cresson, is the Person of the Week.

McNulty, Burkhart and Depto, board president, said that Willett has been working tirelessly on the library project.

Without Willett’s leadership, a new library would not be possible, they said.

Willett and her husband have two daughters, Michele Greer, Ranson, W.Va., and Aimee Westrick, Vinco; and three grandchildren.