Connie Richardson - President

Connie Richardson was born in South Dakota, raised in Montana and has lived in Oregon since 1969. She and her husband Cliff have raised four sons on the McKenzie River and are currently enjoying 13 grandchildren. Connie retired in 2015 after teaching at the McKenzie School District for 30 years. The O'Brien Memorial Library has been used and enjoyed by her off and on since 1970. She has volunteered at the Library for 4 years, currently serving as the President of the Board. Reading, gardening, hiking and kayaking are a few of her time fillers.

Larissa Andrews - Vice President

Larissa was born and raised here in the Willamette Valley. She moved to the Blue River area with her family about 9 years ago. Her husbands family has been part of this community for several decades and influenced the move. Larissa joined our Board in November 2021. She has been volunteering with the library for about 8 years. Larissa is our Vice President, On-Site Manager, trainer for new volunteers, and she also manages our Face Book page and this website. She enjoys spending time with her family and hiking in her spare time. If you come by the library on a Wednesday you’ll be sure to meet her.

Aidan Wilson - Treasurer

Aidan’s work history includes being a horse patrol ranger with the National Park Service, Certified Vet Tech, Researcher in Entomology Dept at Penn State, and Producing venomous insect proteins for immunotherapy. She has 3 children and 2 grandchildren and has been living in the forest in Rainbow for one year.

 Beverly Braun

Beverly has vast experience in all things library and book with passion for lifelong learning and literacy. Now retired, she was a bookstore owner and has 30 years of experience directing educational libraries. She is an active member of the American Library Association. She graduated from the University of Oregon with her undergraduate degree in history and graduate degree in Library Information. She is devoted to the Upper McKenzie River Community and particularly to the O’Brien Memorial Library, although she continues to volunteer for various nonprofit organizations as well.

Sherry Widdoes - Secretary

Sherry is originally from Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Delaware. She earned a BA in biology from the University of Delaware and then lived in many places with her husband and children. After settling in Texas for years, she earned her MLS in Library Science from the University of North Texas. She retired from the Research Medical Library at Univ. of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center where she was the Technical Services/Collection Manager. She loves the outdoors, reading, gardening, traveling, kayaking, cooking and her family of 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

Sandra Angle

Sandra has been a Board member since July 2021.. Arriving to the McKenzie River community in July of 2020, she was happy to discover after the fire, how she could help the library by joining as a volunteer and started just prior to the Opening Ceremony. Previously working in the pet care industry, she is a huge animal lover. Her dog, Kyle joined the river community just after the fire disaster. As a rescue animal, he seems to be appreciating all the glory of this beautiful area as much as Sandra is. She loves to hear stories about the history of the library and the area in general.

John Witte

John came to Oregon from Maine almost fifty years ago and, along with his partner, Deb Casey, and their children and grandchildren, enjoy their cabin in Blue River. Until retiring, he was the editor of Northwest Review at the University of Oregon, where he also taught Ecopoetry. He is a widely-published poet who often finds the McKenzie River working its way into his poems. The son of a librarian, he has always found in libraries a home away from home.