Thanks to a generous Sun Valley resident, The Community Library and the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation will be able to maintain and expand the resources they offer the Wood River Valley.
Joan Donaldson Robb Mickelson, a Minnesota native who relocated to Sun Valley in 1980, was an avid skier and voracious reader who passed away in March. Her memory is being kept alive through the generous legacies she left to the Ketchum library and the SVSEF, which trains valley skiers of various ages and abilities.
Though the amounts of the gifts aren't being disclosed, staff members at both organizations emphasized how many people these donations will affect.
"This bequest is touching thousands of people," said Colleen Daly, executive director of The Community Library.
Daly said the library had almost 140,000 visitors last year, adding, "That's the whole valley, many times over."
In gratitude, Daly invited Mickelson's four children and several grandchildren to take a grand tour of the library. The library's circulation has risen 11 percent this year, Daly said, as more people take advantage of its language programs and free Internet.
With increased circulation come increased operating costs, and Daly said the library needs to raise more than $700,000 a year. Though the Gold Mine thrift store contributes about 30 percent of the library's operating budget, the library must look to other sources for the remainder.
Daly said an unexpected problem with receiving donations such as Mickelson's is that some local residents get the false impression that the library has all the money it needs.
"We're victims of our own success," she said. "(But) we don't receive any government funding on a local, state or federal level. We rely on the generosity of the community year in and year out."
The library was founded through the generosity of 17 women, one of whom was Jeanne Lane Moritz, mother of current board member Jack Lane. Lane took a moment to speak with Mickelson's children in the room at the library named for his mother.
"Your mother is really in a wonderful, generous tradition," he said.
Mickelson's son, Don Robb, was particularly impressed with the library's accessible workstation. The station includes a Braille keyboard and a reading machine. Robb said Mickelson had lost her sight late in life and had used similar machines.
"She didn't want to stop having the joy of reading," he said, adding that she would have appreciated library patrons having the same opportunity.
Mickelson's donation to the SVSEF will also provide opportunities for Wood River Valley residents.
"It's going to help a lot of kids," said Executive Director Don Wiseman.
Wiseman estimated the gift would help five to 15 children a year attend the foundation's ski training sessions, depending on market conditions.
"It's an unbelievable donation," he said. "It's creating a legacy in Joan's name that will help kids for generations to come."
Katherine Wutz: kwutz@mtexpress.com
Colleen Daly, executive director of The Community Library, leads three of Joan Mickelson’s children, Jodie Robb, Tom Robb and Don Robb, on a tour of the library Friday. Photo by Willy Cook
