
The Kingfisher County Retired Educators’ Association meeting was held on Wednesday, January 8, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Kingfisher Memorial Library, with eleven members and two guests present. Chad Sanders, Sanders Funeral Service in Kingfisher, was unable to speak as scheduled due to a conflict, but he will speak at a future meeting on the topic of new trends in the funeral industry. Instead, Kingfisher Memorial Library staff members filled in and spoke about different services and programs available through the library.
JoAnn Turner discussed different genealogy research options available free of charge at the library. Friends of Kingfisher County Library group pays for a yearly subscription to Ancestry.com, which can be utilized from the bank of computers at the library. Another research option at the library is Newspapers.com, that covers the years of 1889 through the early 1960s. Online obituaries and census records are another invaluable source of information for those wanting to know more about their family history. The library also contains microfilm that can be used for older research records.
LaRita Sipe discussed the Adult Reading Challenge program that started four years ago. Approximately 30 – 40 people per month participate in the reading challenge program that encourages library patrons to read books from various authors and genres. Each month has a different theme or genre. The current challenge for January 2025 is “Pick an Author,” as participants will pick the name of an author out of a bowl and then utilize the library’s online catalog system to find a book written by that author on the shelf at the library and then read the book at home.
Audry Sanders stated that 350 Kingfisher County children from ages 0-5 were participating in the Imagination Library program, a national program first launched in 1995 to get books into the hands of young children. Approximately 36% of the county students are participating in the Imagination Library which provides one free book per month to young readers. This is the first year that Kingfisher County has participated in the program. Supplemental funding for the program is provided through local donations from community partners and the Friends of Kingfisher County Library group.
During the business portion of the meeting, Treasurer Dana Golbek reported that the regular checking account balance was $616.27, and the CD balance was $4,888.15. All checks for 2024 had been cleared through the regular account, including the scholarship moneys to Tate Ott and T.J. Parker.
Membership Chairperson LaRita Sipe mentioned that the Teacher Appreciation Week expenses totaled nearly $300.00. She thanked all the volunteers who delivered the tins of popcorn, cookies, candies, and pretzels to the teachers’ lounges of all public schools within the county. President Debby Jorgenson shared a thank you note that she had received from the high school staff regarding the items delivered to their building.
The next KCREA meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Kingfisher Memorial Library with Nellie Tayloe Sanders, Oklahoma Secretary of Education, as guest speaker.
Information provided by Deborah Maehs.