Oakley senior was rich in historyOakley senior was rich in historyJuly 2, 2004
There is no better way to learn about Oakley's history than to take time to listen to Oakley's senior citizens. There are those who have lived in Oakley all of their lives and can tell stories of the past 100-plus years from life experience, as well as from stories told to them by their parents and grandparents. Sadly, those senior citizens pass away or move on to live in rest homes or closer to relatives to take care of them. And if the history isn't written down, it is lost forever.
One Oakley resident, who not only gave so much of herself to the community but also knew a lot about it's history, passed away last week. Bev Novarina was a delightful woman. Many will remember her from her time as Oakley's librarian. That was at a time when Oakley's library was in one little room on the ground floor of the Oakley Sheriff's substation on O'Hara Avenue.
Novarina was instrumental in helping to make Oakley's dream of having our own library a reality when Freedom High School was built. She helped to work out a deal between the county library system and the high school district to combine funds and build a library where, as Novarina had once said, students could have easy access and there would be plenty of space for patrons of all ages to have access to a great many more books.
Last year, the Oakley Union Elementary School District honored Novarina for all of her work with Oakley's library by renaming the library at Delta Vista Middle School the Bev Novarina Library. Even though she was quite ill at the time, Novarina attended the dedication at a City Council meeting. At the time she said, "It really blew my mind when Bob (Kratina) called to tell me about this honor. I am so happy to still be alive and to know that I have made a difference."
It was not the first time that Novarina had been honored for her service and it wasn't the last. In 1997 she won the Oakley Citizen of the Year Award sponsored by the Oakley Chamber of Commerce. She said that she was ready to retire and let someone else take over the helm. While that might have been her intention, it didn't seem to come to pass so soon.
At the time, even though she may no longer have been the president of the Oakley Friends of the Library, she remained an inspiration to those who came after her, always answering questions and working to recruit new members and even finding ways to get more books for the library.
Novarina was honored with two Oakley Lifetime Achievement awards. One was from the City of Oakley last July when it was first announced that she had contracted ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. In February of this year, she was given the Oakley Chamber's Lifetime Achievement Award. That honor has only gone to a select few in the past decade. The other recipients have been Rico Cinquini, Dennis Nunn and Vina Broderick. The award was meant to go to a person who has dedicated more than a decade to service in the Oakley Community. Novarina did that and more.
While she was most known for the work she did for the library system, as a 45-year resident of the community, she did so much more. At one time she was an active member and president of the now defunct Oakley Woman's Club, which from the early 1900s until it disbanded in the late 1990s was a driving force in the community.
Novarina also volunteered her services working with children and on many committees and organizations for the betterment of the community. She was active on a committee to get more parks in Oakley, and worked with the county to help construct housing for low-income seniors and the disabled. She spent hundreds of hours volunteering her time to make Oakley a great place to live.
I will not be the only one to miss Bev's laughter and smiling face; she will be missed by many. To me she was a great inspiration. She followed her heart and worked for the love of her community, footsteps I have tried to follow since meeting her in 1990.
In memory of Bev Novarina, I would like to ask everyone in Oakley to take a few minutes during this month to visit the Oakley Library and remember it is there because Bev cared about everyone in this community and wished to inspire people to take the time to read.
Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.
Distributed by the Contra Costa Times