Demita Gerber, Monona’s library director extraordinaire, passed away on June 12 after suffering from a brain aneurysm on April 25. A memorial service will be held for her this Saturday, from 9-11 at Olbrich Gardens. If you knew her and were touched by her, or didn’t know her, but were touched by the improvements she brought to the Monona Public Library, I hope you will attend her service and let her family know how important she was to you and our community. 

The Natural Step Monona wouldn’t be the successful organization it is without Demita’s help. She and her staff were strong supporters of our goals and programs, partnering with us on numerous projects from our inception. In 2007, they helped us create the Sustainability Section in the library. We partnered again in 2008 to start the ongoing program Green Tuesdays: Films & Lectures on Sustainability, a community exchange of information and ideas on sustainable living that continues to be held at the library. We collaborated again on a community art project, with the library serving as both mailbox and gallery for postcard art. Demita also served as the city’s staff person on the city’s Sustainability Committee when it first came into being in 2007. She was passionate about energy efficiency at the library, reducing energy use and saving thousands of dollars for the city and taxpayers.

I miss Demita, but she will not be forgotten. Her influence spread to so many areas of our community; I see it far and wide. It’s in the library, of course, successfully turned into “Monona’s living room,” as Demita had desired. It’s in the people of Monona who carry a pride about having a library as inviting, engaging, and good as it is. And it is certainly in the members of The Natural Step Monona who can point to the library as more than a building full of resources, but as a building block of our foundation.

Heather Gates