NEWPORT BEACH : Repaying a Debt to Public Library

Because their children grew up reading stacks of library books 20 years ago, Elizabeth and John Stahr felt that they owed something to their local library.

So they helped launch a fund-raising effort four years ago that has generated nearly $2 million to help build a new public library in Newport Beach.

“Without them, we would not have a new library,” City Librarian LaDonna Kienitz said. “It is hard to comprehend the effort they have put into this fund raising.”

When the central library opens next year, the names of Elizabeth and John Stahr will adorn the children’s reading room.

“I believe in having books available for children,” Elizabeth Stahr, 59, said. “When we moved here 21 years ago, we depended on the local library. . . . I did (the fund raising) so that other young mothers can do the same with their children.”

The $14-million library is under construction on Avocado Avenue, north of the Coast Highway, and is expected to open in mid-1994. But four years ago when the library was in the design phase, the City Council wanted to gauge public interest before spending millions of dollars.

“The City Council was unwilling to take up the project without a showing of public support for the library,” Elizabeth Stahr said.

So the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation was formed to seek donations from both public and private interests. Stahr and her 60-year-old husband, who were chosen to chair the committee, set a goal of raising $1 million.

Since then, they have dedicated countless hours to drafting mailers and doing telephone work.

“We tried to keep it a low-key, grass-roots campaign,” Elizabeth Stahr said. “No glitz and no black-tie dinners.”

Their glitzless effort has netted $1.9 million, made up of a few large donations and hundreds of small donations, mostly from residents and businesses in Newport Beach.

The Stahrs have four grown children whose lives, they say, were shaped by the books they read.

Walter, 35, read a series of presidential biographies when he was 6 and is an attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington. Fritz, 34, who read books on science and mechanics as a child, is pursuing a doctorate in oceanographic engineering from the University of Washington.

Gretchen, 29, is a child-care advocate, and Karen, 27, works in public relations at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

“Children educate themselves with access to books,” she said. “Children read books to expand their horizons.”