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Meet 2 (More) Board Members
Editor’s Note: In our previous newsletter, we introduced three individuals who had joined the Friends’ board fairly recently. We would like to introduce you to two more in this issue: Kathy Sullivan (Sales Events Chair) and Amy Hoyt (Marketing & Communications Chair).
Kathy stepped into the sales void created more than a year ago when our previous sales chair, Kathy Wosinski, was forced to resign due to health reasons. She has done a wonderful job of maintaining continuity in the position and adding some special touches of her own.
Amy joined the board a few months ago and has already had a tremendous impact on our communications with members and other groups within the community, as was evident in the number of attendees at our March book sale.
Kathy Sullivan (Sales Events Chair)
Kathy grew up in Dayton, OH and earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from Ohio State University and a master’s in library science from Kent State University. During her career, she worked in public high school and junior high school libraries. So, it’s easy to see how she gravitated to the Cascade library and the Friends.
When her husband, Tom’s, job necessitated a relocation in 1994, they and their three children—Allison, Kelly and Tim—relocated to Grand Rapids. “Unfortunately, when they graduated from college, they didn’t return to Grand Rapids,” Kathy said. “So, we spend a lot of time in Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, where our six grandkids live.”
Kathy said she first got involved assisting at the book sales for a number of years before deciding she wanted to get more involved with the Friends. “That’s when I began working in the basement, sorting and packing books for sale,” she said. “Little did I realize it would lead to me becoming book sales chair.”
In addition to helping the library in its mission, Kathy said that working with other Friends volunteers is sheer pleasure. “There are so many wonderful volunteers, “she said. “It is always a fun day in the basement. And, meeting and talking to our book sale shoppers is so interesting because it seems they all have a story to tell.”
Amy Hoyt (Marketing & Communications Chair)
Amy was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, CA. She has a son living in Grand Rapids and one in Bakersfield, CA. Both have two children, which makes her a very proud Gramma of four grandkids.
In her mid-forties, she left southern California for the Pacific Northwest, buying the piece of property in Spokane, WA where her father was born. There, she earned a bachelor of arts in Interpersonal Communication at Whitworth University and later a master’s in Pastoral Ministry from Gonzaga University.
She was ordained as an Interfaith Minister by The Chaplaincy Institute in Berkeley, CA. Clinical training and work as a hospital chaplain took her to Richland, WA. She ended her career in Moscow, ID as a rural hospice chaplain, responsible for 3,000 square miles of territory.
In 2014 she took an early retirement from the hospice work and followed her son and his family to Grand Rapids. Her lifetime love of books and her commitment to improving the community she is part of led her to volunteering with the Friends.
“I started volunteering with the Friends of the Library shortly after installing my Little Free Library at my home in Ada,” Amy said. “Volunteering with the Friends fulfills so many things for me! In childhood I developed a love for books, libraries and bookstores that has become a lifelong passion. Just being around shelves of books lifts my spirits, inspires me and makes me happy. Spending time in the library basement with other volunteers provides times of uplifting socialization with great folks of like mind.”
Kathy Sullivan (left) and Amy Hoyt.