OP_020620

18 | February 6, 2020 | the orland Park Prairie life & Arts
OPPrairiedaily.com
Orland Park couple bids adieu to library after four decades of service
Kyle LaHucik
Freelance Reporter
Mary Ann Ahl’s fascination
with libraries stems from her days
as a child in Columbus, Ohio.
Her more-than-four-decade
dedication to the Orland Park
Public Library can be traced to
the childhood memories of she
and her friend, also named Mary
Ann, riding their bicycles to the
Columbus library to read their favorite
books. If it was not Nancy
Drew it was Five Little Peppers
or another series by which they
were enthralled at the time.
“As a child, I was a voracious
reader,” Ahl said.
She would go on to become an
operating nurse, but her love for
literature never abated.
Earlier this month, Ahl, 78,
and her husband, Tom, 82, retired
from their roles as board treasurer
and board president, respectively,
of the Friends of the Orland Park
Public Library, a nonprofit that
raises money for the Orland Park
institution.
Fifty-four years ago, the couple
moved to Orland Park. Mary Ann
would frequent the library in the
Purple Candle Building on 143rd
Street. The library was so tiny
that some records were stored in
a bathtub, Mary Ann said.
A few years later, a friend approached
her about a vacancy on
the Board of Library Trustees,
and thus began her long-held tenure
as a trustee.
In her 36 years in the role, Mary
Ann oversaw the ins and outs of
the library’s policy-making body,
which was more “folksy” in her
early days because the budget
was leaner, and there were fewer
technicalities and formal discussions
to be had.
Over time, though, Mary Ann
and her fellow trustees would be
in charge of securing a new location
for the library at 14760 Park
Lane, which was donated by the
Andrew Corporation and dedicated
on Nov. 14, 1976, according
to the library’s website. Seven
years later, the Andrew Corporation
made another donation and
“If I leave
anything behind
besides my family
and children,
it would be the
library.”
Mary Ann Ahl — recently
retired Friend of the Orland
Park Public Library
increased the library’s footprint
from 7,000 square-feet to 18,500
square-feet.
Then, in the early 2000s, the
trustees would preside over the
next iteration of the library: an
award-winning 93,000-squarefoot
building designed by architecture
firm Lohan Anderson. The
2002 referendum that called for
building the new facility on 149th
Street and Ravinia Avenue was a
high point in Mary Ann’s life, she
said.
The library’s opening day,
on Sept. 12, 2004, was another
monumental day for Mary Ann.
She recalls giving tours that day
and being taken aback by the
grandeur of the latest milestone
in the library’s history, which she
noted was built under budget and
on-time.
The longtime library advocate
said she chokes up driving
down Ravinia Avenue every time
she passes the building. Mary
Ann stores her library card in
her purse, where it can be found
among photographs of her family
at all times. And she is not shy
about showing people the card, so
they can see the beautiful building,
she said.
“If I leave anything behind besides
my family and children, it
would be the library,” Mary Ann
said.
Mary Ann was honored with
the Illinois Library Association
Trustee of the Year Award in
2009. After Mary Ann stepped
Pictured are Mary Ann (left) and Tom Ahl, who recently retired from Friends of the Orland Park Public
Library after decades of commitment to the institution.
Photos courtesy of the Orland Park Public Library
down from the Library Board in
February 2014 for health reasons,
she said it was hard to let go of the
library, given its strong presence
in her life for 40 years. Shortly after
she left the board, somebody
from the library approached her
about joining the Friends.
So she did. And she brought
along Tom, a civil engineer by
trade who considers himself more
of a “leisure reader.”
The couple helped implement
annual used book sales, the library’s
first Giving Tuesday campaign
last year and a new online
donation form during their tenure
with the Friends. In all, they
helped oversee more than $20,000
in contributions to the Friends,
which support programs like the
Summer Reading Challenge.
“Every endeavor they did was
a success,” Assistant Library Director
Mary Adamowski said.
“They had the heart of the library
close to them.”
The couple, who will celebrate
56 years of marriage in October,
decided to retire from the
Friends this month because they
said there is a time to end every
chapter in life, even though “it’s
painful to leave,” Mary Ann said.
With the library undergoing
renovations and entering its next
cycle, younger residents ought
to step in and take charge, Tom
said. The couple emphasized the
importance of giving back to the
community.
“We’re getting older, and doing
simpler things takes longer,”
Mary Ann said.
The couple said they will still
help the Friends in their endeavors
but plan to spend more time
at home.
Books will always be a part
of their lives, though. Mary Ann
gives a gift basket of books at
every baby shower she attends.
“The Little Engine that Could”
and “Goodnight Moon” usually
can be found tucked among parenting
books, she said.
The couple said the volunteers
on the Friends board who came
before them did a great job, especially
with their work early last
decade in officially making the
organization a nonprofit.
But the impact the Ahls had on
the library surely will not be forgotten.
“I have known Mary Ann Ahl
since 1996 and have been awed
by her strong advocacy for reading
and libraries,” Library Director
Mary Weimar said. “Any
chance Mary Ann has, she is promoting
the Orland Park Public
Library, because she truly loves
our library.
“Together, their knowledge
of the community and library
became an asset as the Friends’
board planned book sales and
managed the Recycled Reads
program. Tom and Mary Ann’s
volunteerism spirit is awe-inspiring.”
Their spirit exudes warmth,
too.
“Something you should know
about the Ahls is that they are hilarious,”
Communications Manager
Jackie Boyd said. “They are
really fun to be around.
“We wish them the best in their
retirement.”
Although the Ahls will not be
at the library as much going forward,
their legacy and the programs
they helped institute will
still be in place. And maybe children,
like the young Mary Ann,
will ride their bicycles to the library
to read Nancy Drew.