Jerry Overaa was interviewed on July 23rd, 2009, by Brenda Heppler. Jerry was CEO of C. Overaa & Co., the construction company that built the new library. At the time of this interview he had also been a Lafayette resident for over 40 years. Jerry’s company had built libraries in Orinda, Danville, and other cities […]

Roger Falcone was interviewed by Brenda Hepler on July 12th, 2008. Roger was head of the Lafayette School District board. He was also head of the physics department at UC Berkeley and was actively involved with the Lawrence Hall of Science. Among the things Dr. Falcone brought to the group of talented and dedicated volunteers […]

Linda Peterson was interviewed by Mary McCosker on May 12th, 2009. In the 1980s Linda co-founded a communications firm which specialized in helping non-profit organizations “tell their story”. She had been a supporter of the library for years, and had been president of the Friends of the Lafayette Library, when she became leader of the […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]