The Salem Bryan-Bennett Library has been left over $200,000 from a former patron and board member.
The announcement came from the estate of Marilea Koch. The Successor Trustee of her trust, Richard Stubblefield, says the money is not restricted in use.
“She was sight impaired in the last years and books on tape from the state library and guess probably got some through here, so she wanted to do something to help people and wanted people to be able to read. She was a writer and wrote a lot of articles through the Methodist Church Newsletter.”
Stubblefield says Koch had also written books on the history of both sides of her family. After growing up in Sesser and going to SIU-C, she became an English teacher in the northern part of the state. Koch moved back to Salem to help take care of her parents. During that time she served several terms on the library board as well as working at the Greater Salem Chamber of Commerce.
Librarian Kim Keller expects a lot of discussion at the next Library Board meeting on how to use the money.
“Of course we’ve been talking about the HVAC needing a little bit of help. Even if we engaged in that work, that’s still not going to take up the entire amount that is left to the library so even after that we would have something else to invest in. And she is continuing to serve us.”
The library will receive an initial gift of $144,000 with a second payment still to be determined to come later.
In addition to the monetary donation, Koch is also donating her reading magnifier she used when her eyesight was failing so it can be used by others at the library. Keller says the device is much better than the older units currently available to library patrons.

An enlarger for reading books is donated to the Bryan Bennett Library. Photo by Bruce Kropp