Teresa was interviewed by Brenda Hepler on September 2nd, 2009. She was already serving on the Lafayette School Board when she was asked to part of the steering committee working on the new library. At the time she joined there was limited enthusiasm for funding this project within the community. That changed after Teresa became […]
Oral History: Bill Eames — November 9th, 2009
Bill Eames was interviewed by Brenda Heppler on November 9th, 2009. He opened a pharmacy–first called Acalanes Pharmacy, later renamed Bill’s Drugs–in Lafayette in 1959. For the next thirty years Bill actively supported numerous community organizations while he was building Bill’s Drugs into a large regional pharmacy chain. He was actively involved in the early […]
Oral History: Steve Falk — January 29th, 2009
Steve Falk, Lafayette’s City Manager from 1991 to 2018, was interviewed by Brenda Heppler on January 15th, 2009. He describes Lafayette as a community which has, for decades, attracted people who were committed to good schools and to education in general. Soon after arriving, Steve became part of a citizens’ group that recognized that the […]
Oral History: Francis Ebert — February 21st, 2008
Francis Ebert was interviewed by Nancy Sherman on February 21, 2008. Dr. Ebert grew in Marysville and Yuba City and lived and worked in several other parts of Northern California before he succeeded the long-tenured Bill Ellis as Lafayette Superintendent of Schools in 1962. Among all the communities he and his wife lived in Lafayette […]
Oral History: Anne Cain — July 16th, 2009
Anne Cain, Head Librarian for Contra Costa County, was interviewed on July 16, 2009, by George McLain. An active participant in the process to create the new library, Anne was specifically responsible for making sure the building was built to operate efficiently. Anne’s 37-years of experience as a librarian gave her a broad perspective for […]
Oral History: Lucille “Lue” Jones — April 27th, 2007
Lucille “Lue” Jones moved to Lafayette at age 6 in 1927. Her father came here to work on building the Lafayette Reservoir. In this interview she shares memories of growing up in Lafayette at that time and of Carrie Van Meter, the town librarian, who would always tell you what book you were going to […]
Oral History: Mike Gilson — October 7th, 2009
From the time he arrived in Lafayette in 1990, Mike Gilson became an active supporter of local non-profit organizations: the Town Hall Theater, the War Veterans Memorial Hall, and, starting in 1994, the committee formed by a group of citizens to develop what would become the Lafayette Library and Learning Center. Like several other members […]
Oral History: Jon Frank — October 31st, 2008
Jon Frank was Superintendent of the Lafayette School District for a 10-year period ending in 2003. He was interviewed by Nancie Sherman on October 31st, 2008. Jon was part of the original ad-hoc committee that began meeting in the mid 1990’s to lay the groundwork for a new library–“one which would make it possible to […]
Oral History: Tom & Karen Mulvaney — April 6th, 2009
Karen and Tom were interviewed by Nancie Sherman on March 16, 2009. From the time they moved to Lafayette in 1987 both of them had been actively involved in the local schools. Feeling that the 1952 library was no longer meeting the city’s needs, they soon joined and helped to lead the effort to plan, […]
Oral History: Gayle Uilkema — July 15th, 2009
Gayle Uilkema was interviewed by Mary McCosker on July 15, 2009. At the time she had served on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for 13 years, following 18 years of service on the Lafayette City Council. Supervisor Uilkema describes the library project as being the result of a whole lot of very committed, […]