A DREAM COME TRUE

HON. ROBERT DOLE OF KANSAS IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

Monday, December 8, 1969

Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, last Sunday, it was my pleasure to speak at the dedication of the Ida Long Goodman Memorial Library in St. John, Kans. For Mrs. Goodman, it was a 28-year long dream come true. Mrs. Goodman, who celebrated her 81st birthday anniversary on Saturday, is a good example of the type of person the Nation needs more of: She is dedicated people. Her gift to her hometown included the land and more than $200,000 which made possible the construction of a combination school-municipal library. Attentive to details, she also worked hard to secure the passage of the special legislation required to build the library. An article published in the December 6 Wichita Eagle-Beacon recounts some of the dedicated work this amazing woman has performed as a teacher and educator. I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Extensions of Remarks.

There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

A DREAM COME TRUE (By Elma Byrne)

St. John, Kansas.

Mrs. Ida Long Goodman has had a dream and a goal for 28 years. She has wanted her "home community" to have a library, "a new and beautiful library." And now that dream has come true as this southwestern Kansas farm community observes the formal dedication Sunday of the $300,000 Ida Long Goodman Memorial Library. A native of St. John, Mrs. Goodman said: "My parents were a pioneer family here, and lived here all their lives. I had an inherited debt to this community." But the building of this library was really more than a payment of a debt--it was the further fulfillment of Mrs. Goodman's life which has been directed to education.

Mrs. Goodman was a rural schoolteacher for eight years in the St. John area. "I enjoyed teaching and I realized that to hold a good position I had to further my education, she explained. And so she received a bachelor of philosophy of education degree from University of Chicago in 1921. After graduation she taught at Bryn Mawr College and Omaha University. She was head of the training school department of education at Chicago Teachers College and supervising principal of two schools in Elmhurst, Dl. She has a master's degree from University of Chicago. When she moved to Denver in 1947, she taught for nine years at two Independent schools there. And for nine years she has voluntarily taught English to foreign born adults who are patients at Denver's National Jewish Hospital.

"The reason I became interested in library work was that I recognized when a child was called 'dull' it was because of a reading problem. My philosophy is that there are no dull children," Mrs. Goodman said. She added, "A child becomes frustrated, confused and discouraged in his reading and consequently there are many dropouts and children who fail. I believe a child can correct his own reading ills through reading library books." In 1941 when she and her husband, William Roe Goodman, retired to St. John ''we tried to develop some kind of library," she said. But construction on the library was not begun until January of 1969 and then only after special legislation allowing funds for a school-municipal library, Mrs. Goodman explained. The library is a combined city and school library. "I never thought this would come about. It doesn't seem true to me. Mr. Goodman would be so proud. He would be sky high," she said with a hint of tears in her eyes.

Mrs. Goodman gave a $215,000 gift toward the construction of the library which cost $340,000 when completed last November, according to Evart Garvin, attorney to Mrs. Goodman and the St. John school board. Garvin said Mrs. Goodman's gift included the site on which the library is built and most of the construction costs. He added that at her death another $100,000 will be given toward any existing debts on the building. Mrs. Goodman said that the completion of the library was "a wonderful way" to celebrate her 81st birthday on Saturday. "This library is the greatest thing that has happened to our school and community in a long time," said George Highfill, superintendent of schools.

Garvin added that the previous library, established in 1925, was housed on the top floor of the old brick city hall building, "It was makeshift, stacked full and there was no people room," he said. Highfill explained that the some 400 elementary and high school students from the St. John school transported the 30,000 volumes from the city library and 8,000 volumes from the school libraries into the new library in less than a week. The Ida Long Goodman Memorial Library is dedicated to the memory of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Noah Long, and her husband. It sets on a site one-half block from the town square and directly adjacent to the school.

The most impressive aspect of its brown brick and metal exterior is the antiqued avocado main door with carvings of the zodiac. At the northwest corner of the library is a brick wall enclosed garden area. The building is 60-feet by 90-feet, fully carpeted and air conditioned. The main floor walls and carpet are a soft gold tone and the basement is done in red carpet and rose beige walls. The major pieces of furniture are done in matched grain mahogany. The main floor has an adult and a children's section. The adult section includes a lounge, periodical room, study carrels, a curriculum library and two conference rooms.

One conference room is named the Mater Kansas Room after Mrs. Leslie Mater, longtime city librarian who will retire after the first of the year. The room contains a collection of Kansas history books and artifacts. The other conference room is the Ida Long Goodman Room and it will contain some of her personal art holdings. A story well is the outstanding attraction of the children's section and it is for the use of kindergarten through third graders. It consists of four carpeted stairs on which the children sit while they listen to storybook readings from a teacher situated on a stage. In the basement is more than that, as there is a student lounge and community room in addition to the storage and maintenance rooms. The community room is used for meetings and art exhibits. Exhibits can be hung on three of the walls that are covered from floor to ceiling with display board. Architects for the library were Miller, Hiett, Dronberger, Arbuckle & Walker of Hutchinson, Kans. Sunday's dedicatory ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. and will include an address by Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Perhaps the appreciation stated on Sunday's program best expresses the feelings of most of the 1,808 residents of St. John. That is: "The Ida Long Goodman Memorial Library stands today and will continue to stand as evidence that Mrs. Goodman loved those who preceded her, those who are contemporary with her, and those who are to follow after, and that she wished to make life richer and better today, and in the days to come."