Mr. Kyle's Gift

A modest clerk leaves $350,000 to his former employer, a city library branch

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 6/1/2005

A longtime St. Louis library clerk—who never earned more than $20,000 a year—left an endowment of more than $350,000 to the library he loved.

A creature of habit, George Kyle came to work at the Carpenter Branch for 46 years—always dressed in a dark red or maroon tie and buttoned-down shirt, and with a bologna sandwich, two large graham crackers, and a thermos of milk for lunch.

"We used to tease him and call him Mr. Carpenter," says Diane Freirmuth, deputy director of the St. Louis Library system, who worked with Kyle for five years when she was a children's librarian at Carpenter. "As a clerk he was the first face people saw, and because he looked so distinguished, many of the children thought he was in charge."

A longtime bachelor, Kyle lived frugally. He shared a home for many years with his mother and father before moving into an apartment of his own, and eventually into a retirement home. He never traveled or owned a car, and instead walked or rode the bus to the South St. Louis library branch where he worked from 1938 until he retired in the 1980s.

While Kyle's presence exuded formality, he was actually known for his daily jokes—ones that would bring library regulars in each day.

"You heard the joke all day long," says Freirmuth, laughing.

The endowment will be split into two. One half will be used to purchase children's books, with nameplates honoring Kyle's mother, Ruth E. Kyle, and the other half for buying adult books, which will honor his father, George B. Kyle.

The library is expected to make its first purchase as early as this fall, says Rick Simoncelli, president of the St. Louis Library Foundation, who was notified of the donation by Kyle's lawyer. With the endowment earmarked specifically for the Carpenter Branch, Kyle's legacy to his beloved library is sure to benefit children and adult patrons for generations to come.