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Lybbert booking a busy life
Submitted photo
One of Janet Lybbert’s favorite places to read is what she calls her ‘grandma’s chair.’
Janet Lybbert loves to read.
“The last time I went to the library, I had to get one of those book bags because I would be taking out armfuls of books,” she said.
“I think the more you read, the more you learn. It doesn’t matter what the content is; it’s the written word that’s important. Your vocabulary will increase and your retention will increase. Once I get into reading a book, everything else around me can lose focus. I read for enjoyment. Having a book, for me, is like food on a plate; I can’t just not eat.”
Therefore, it should come as no surprise to find out that Lybbert is part of the Quincy Valley Library Foundation board, which is trying to help with fund-raising efforts for the proposed new downtown library through grant writing, donor support and fund-raising events.
The foundation’s goal is to raise $300,000 within the community toward the project. The total project cost is estimated at around $2 million.
“We still need $1 million,” Lybbert said. “I think a lot of people think, ‘Oh, it’s a done deal, it’s going to get built, I don’t need to do anything.’ But that’s not the case. We need to raise more. We need community support.”
To that end, the board is planning several fund-raising events for the coming months, including but not limited to: plans for Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day; a harvest festival at Parties on the Green in October; and a gala event, including an artwork auction, dinner and dancing, in the spring.
“We’re so excited about the new library,” Lybbert said. “I like books and I love libraries; I’ve taken our kids to the Quincy library since they were little. Our library system here is phenomenal; people from surrounding areas are amazed at what they can do. (Librarian) Schiree (Ybarra) gets kids excited about reading with her summer programs, but there’s not enough room. The new library will have plenty of room for meetings and kids programs.”
When Lybbert is not reading or working (she started working at Quincy Farm Chemicals three weeks ago as a bookkeeper), she’s usually trying to keep up with her husband Scott’s many exploits, or spending time with family.
Scott works as a maintenance planner at Lamb Weston and is a member of the Quincy city council.
“He’s got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies,” Lybbert said. “He loves being on the city council. He likes having an impact on the community. He does well at his job because he’s really good with computers. He taught himself a lot of it, and now he’s got a knack for it.”
Scott and Janet have five children: Trista Teeter, 25, lives in North Carolina with her husband, Russ, and their two children; Christian, 23, recently graduated from Wenatchee Valley College and is on his way to BYU Idaho; Dené Rhoten, 19, is a student at Columbia Basin College and lives in the Tri-Cities with her husband, Keith; West, 18, will be a senior at Quincy High School this fall and is considering enlisting in the Marines after graduation; and Shelan, 16, will be a junior at QHS this fall.
Slowly but surely, the Lybbert children are growing up and moving out of their parents’ house, but that doesn’t mean that Janet and Scott preside over an empty nest.
For the last several years, they’ve hosted exchange students from locations such as Brazil, Peru, the Canary Islands, Germany and China.
“The exchange students do kind of fill the void when our own kids moved out,” Lybbert said. “I think it’s good to have exchange students because it keeps you more organized and you end up doing more things as a family. And I think it’s been good for my kids because they’ve learned a few things in different languages and cultures, and when it’s just brother-sister all the time, it can be nice to have somebody else there.”
