Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Ora Waverly Conlan, 92, still remembers her library card number growing up - #354.
It was the library, and her parents, who gave her the love of learning in the first place and that love has never faded.
In fact, the Kosciusko County Community Foundation announced Thursday, July 23 Ora has pledged a $50,000 matching opportunity to the Warsaw Community Public Library Capital Improvement Fund because of how much she cherishes the library and learning and wants to see the library continue on. The $50,000 gift will match dollar-for-dollar donations to the fund at the Foundation through Dec. 31, 2026.
In May, the Warsaw Common Council voted not to approve an approximate $17 million bond for renovations and repairs to the Warsaw Community Public Library.
“I don’t know how many other people my age are still around in this town, but Leah Powers, she was the one who was in charge of the children’s department” at the library when Ora was a child, she recalled. Powers lived in the same neighborhood downtown as Ora. “She was such a dignified lady. In those days, if they had a job to do, they did it with everything that was expected of them, and they were responsible for things and lots of kids coming in and out.”
When she and her brother went to the library, they could spend hours there.
“When we went there, both my brother and I would come home with three or four books and Mom did teach us all of those things before we even went to school, so by the time we got to school, we were ready,” Ora recalled in an interview July 20 at 1st Source Bank.
There are young people today who don’t know what a card catalog is.
“But, (the library) has a lot of equipment there that is beneficial for them if you’re looking for what they tell you to look for. Having curiosity and being inspired to think of something that ‘hey, I think I would be good at this, but I’ve got to look this up and see who did what, when,’” Ora said.
Her parents were married in 1931. Ora was born July 15, 1934, in Chicago.
They eventually moved to 309 S. Washington St., Warsaw, during the Great Depression. It was Ora’s mom’s mother’s home. Ora lived there until she went away to college, which is now Eastern State University in Richmond, Ky., having graduated from high school in 1951. The home was just a few blocks away from the library.
“Probably every week we would (go to the library), maybe even twice, depending on the weather, too. Sometimes we were snowed in. But, we were hungry for it,” she said.
They’d stay at the library as long as they could. Ora said it was easier to sit there, on the floor if necessary, as long as they could manage.
“And then once we did get started in school, well, you did your school work. The thing was, if you had to research anything for any purpose, right to the library and we learned how to use the card catalog system and everything,” Ora said.
Her parents were very involved in their children’s lives and education.
“They were busy themselves, but they made sure that we were kept up with the things that we were going to need to know in the future,” Ora said. “The library was, you could find out anything you needed to know. In fact, as recently as about 2015, I was able to learn how to read Braille because I simply had a curiosity about how do they do that.”
Reading Braille was something that always intrigued her and she had an opportunity to learn it.
“The library had a lady there whose mother had a need of it because she was blind or nearly blind, and that lady had donated to the library I’d say about five or six different books that were translations of Reader’s Digest,” Ora said. “... I got so fascinated with that, I ended up, finally, the last thing I was working on before I moved to Timbercrest, had to do with a National (Geographic) magazine that had put out a story having to do with Crimea. ... I transcribed every word of that whole story into Braille. Then, I would read my Braille back to see and compare it with what the actual words were.”
She was so fascinated with that, she said she would do it again if she had the time.
Ora also learned Russian and Spanish. In college, she learned to play the cello, which was harder than she thought it would be. She gave up the idea of teaching music after she realized she didn’t like it.
She went to different jobs, until she finally ended up fulfilling a dream of going to New York City. That’s where in 1963 she met her husband, Joe, an electronics engineer, who was born on Long Island. They were married in 1965 and their marriage lasted 60 years.
They were living in New Jersey when there was a layoff where Joe was working. They moved to a home built in 1904 at 1100 College Ave., Winona Lake. Joe found a job at Coachmen Industries in Middlebury, while Ora found one at Korth Furniture before landing a job at Word Music. Joe kept earning degrees and changed jobs a few times.
Ora was a charter member of the Warsaw Community Orchestra, which became Grace Community Orchestra and then Symphony of the Lakes. She served on its board of directors for five years.
Ora said she’s continued to go to the Warsaw Community Public Library to keep learning.
“I always did a lot of reading,” she said, though by the time she was working for Word Music she was kept pretty busy in their own library. “That doesn’t mean I don’t like to read still, but now they’re more technical things.”
Asked what inspired her to donate the $50,000 matching opportunity, Ora said, “There were several opportunities, but Julie (Diffendarfer, 1st Source Bank), with her knowledge of what she does, was familiar with various ways to handle things. She was working with the Kosciusko County Community Foundation and that was a vehicle that many people were able to use and to the advantage of the library. And, the fact that we’re able to specify what we’d be able to do, we thought it would be publicity for other people to read about it and want to make their own type of contribution. But we need it and we need it now because for (the library) to get started with anything, it’s a long haul off.”
She stated she was very disappointed with the city of Warsaw for not contributing anything toward the repair project because “the people who use the library, these children, are learning things that are going to be useful for Warsaw economically as they will be able to use what they have learned from all sources, but they’re going to have more sources if the library expands their sources. So my objective is to stir the pot and get some” traction.
Diffendarfer said Ora wants to keep the library going for future generations so it can help with education, peaking education and creating lifelong learners like she is.
“It’s a very important asset to our community, and we want to keep it that way,” Diffendarfer said.
Ora stated, “Don’t wait for somebody else to inspire. You inspire yourself and start now. Do it.”
