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The
Kountze Woman's Club was
organized on February 3, 1961. The first president was
Mrs. R. S. Coe. and the treasurer was Frances Carter. By September
of that same year, the Kountze City Library was formed.
The City of Kountze gave the ladies permission to use
one room in the City Hall building
as a library. The club members took turns manning the library. Among some
of the charter members were Charlene Branscum, Eugenia
Gauntt, Jo Ellen Spivey, Ruth Hargrove, Willa D. Coe,
Mary Frances Richardson, Faye Birdwell and Mary Christian.
The Kountze Woman's Club operated the library solely for over
twenty five years, paying the staff, buying the books,
adding to the building, paying utilities and upkeep. They
began the Little Miss Kountze Pageant and Shopper's Bazaar
as fundraisers to pay the library's way.
After City Hall moved to its present site in the 1970s, the
library had more room to grow. Past head librarians were
Miley Cariker, Alice Kelley, Linda Murphy, Glenda Dugat,
and Connie House Richardson.
In the late 1980s, the City of Kountze agreed to make the
library a department of the city. The Kountze Woman's
Club, however, still provides the funding for the library
materials and its members serve on the
Kountze Public Library Advisory Board.
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