Library receives generous donations from Zindler estate
(Courtesy photo) Mary Zindler, pictured here, loved to read and loved the Sandpoint library, so before she died last year she instructed the executor of her estate, Donna Hutter, to give her money to local nonprofits, one of which was the library. Between two donations, Hutter presented the library with $100,000 in donations from Zindler’s estate to aid the upcoming library expansion project.
(Courtesy photo) Donna Hutter, left, presents a check to the East Bonner County Library District’s Sandpoint branch, accepted by library director Ann Nichols, right. As executor of Mary Zindler’s estate, Hutter made a total of $100,000 in donations toward the library’s expansion project, as per Zindler’s wishes to help the library and the community.
(Courtesy photo) Lynn Hayes, left, outreach coordinator for the Sandpoint library, and Donna Hutter, right, were both considered family by Mary Zindler who died last year. As executor of Zindler's estate, Hutter made a total of $100,000 in donations toward the library's expansion project, as per Zindler's wishes to help the library and the community.
SANDPOINT — Mary Zindler didn't get out much toward the end of her life because of health issues, so her whole life centered around books.
Zindler was the oldest living resident at the Bridge at Sandpoint before she died last year at 92 years old, said Donna Hutter, a close friend and executor of Zindler's estate.
"She had special authors and things that she liked, and Lynn from the library would always get her special books, get large print and bring them to her — all the time — so she just loved the library," Hutter said.
And the impact Lynn Hayes, Sandpoint library's outreach coordinator, had on Zindler is now impacting the lives of others in a most positive way.
"She got to know Mary so well she knew what kind of books and music and stuff she liked," said Marcy Timblin, the district's public relations specialist. "She would come to her with a stack of stuff and Mary would either eat it up or she'd just tell Lynn, 'I'm not going to read that."
Hayes knew Zindler loved romance novels and also enjoyed a mystery or historical fiction from time to time, so she would bring Zindler the ones she thought best suited to her liking during regular visits from 1999 until she died. Because Zindler had no children of her own, Hayes, the Hutters and the Bridge staff became her family, Timblin said.
"I feel very blessed to have been a part of Mary's life," Hayes said.
Before she died, Zindler spoke with Hutter about her estate and where she wanted her money to go.
"All of her money went to charity and nonprofits in Bonner County," Hutter said. "That's where she wanted it to go."
And she wanted some of it to go to the library. Initially, last June, $20,000 from Zindler's estate was donated to the East Bonner Library District's Sandpoint branch. As the end of the estate drew near and Hutter knew about the library's upcoming expansion project, she asked library officials, if she donated another $50,000, if Zindler could get some recognition on the project.
Hutter ended up donating another $80,000, bringing the total to an even $100,000.
"If they can get a wing named after her, she would be looking down and just beaming with pride," Hutter said. "There were no conditions, of course, I'd give them the money anyway."
Timblin said library officials are working with the Hutters to identify the perfect way to acknowledge Zindler's donation and appreciation for the library.
"The reason the library got that money was absolutely because of Lynn's outstanding service, and she is that way with everyone ... she loves going and visiting people and getting to know them," Timblin said.
Some of the other area nonprofits that received donations from Zindler's estate include Panhandle Special Needs, Angels Over Sandpoint, Toys for Tots, Panhandle Animal Shelter and more.
"I said I would only do this on the condition that I wouldn't take any money for doing it," Hutter said she told Zindler when asked to be the executor of the estate.
Zindler and her husband, Harvey, were good friends with Hutter's parents. The Zindlers, who lived in California, would visit Idaho every year and eventually moved to the area. Zindler called Hutter's husband, Richard Hutter, her son, Timblin said.
The Hutters are a generous couple as well, also donating $5,000 of their own money to the library. But their generosity is not limited to financial gifts, Timblin said, as Hutter serves on grant committees for several local organizations. Because of her heavy involvement in the community, Hutter was named a 2017 Woman of Wisdom.
"That was a very nice, pleasant surprise, an honor, and I'm thrilled," Hutter said about being named a Woman of Wisdom.
Hutter said she and her husband, who are 70 and 78 years old respectively, were both raised in small towns. Hutter grew up in Rathdrum, actually, back when only a few hundred people lived there. Her parents were involved in "everything," she said. Her dad was a volunteer firefighter and a Lions Club member, and her mom was involved in a few organizations as well.
"My husband was raised the same way," Hutter said. "We have a saying here at the house that he loves to make money and I love to give it away, and it works for both of us — he enjoys giving the money away, too — and we are just ordinary people. We are just very blessed in life and we're just happy we can do things like that."
The library expansion is scheduled to begin soon, though the library board decided Monday to downsize the original plans somewhat. The original estimate for the project was $2.7 million, but as bids were coming in higher than expected, the southwest wing is officially off the table, Timblin said. That wing was going to be a teen area and makerspace, which she said they will still make room for, but library officials are still working out the details.
To date, the library has received close to $200,000 in donations from the community toward the expansion. The library has also received some grants, which Timblin said the donation from Zindler's estate is even larger than any of those.
The library sees an average of 800 people per day and is home to much more than books. The library hosts several programs for youth and in the annual report for 2016, 1,096 children attended the programs last year. So the library is "busting at the seams" in some areas, Timblin said. The other reason for doing the expansion project, she said, is community is looking to the library for "emerging things," and the library doesn't have the means to do it. She said staff hears things the community would like, such as skills development and quiet versus social spaces.
"We really want to try to make all that happen," Timblin said.
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.com.