2026年4月4日 美国东部时间上午11:10 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：埃莉萨·坎迪奥蒂
140多年来，拥有3000名居民的堪萨斯州弗rontenac小镇几乎应有尽有——唯独缺少一座公共图书馆。
2019年，城市管理员约翰·扎富塔接到一通意外电话后，一切都改变了。
“这太意外了，”扎富塔说道，“一名律师告诉我们，我们是塔韦拉家族信托基金的唯一受益人。”
理查德·塔韦拉和珍妮特·塔韦拉二人都是在弗rontenac长大的，后来搬去了堪萨斯城。珍妮特在那里担任图书馆员，直到2019年去世。理查德则于前一年离世。这对夫妇希望用他们的遗产为家乡书写新的传奇。小镇将从他们的 estate（遗产）中获得460万美元，用于建造弗rontenac的首座公共图书馆。
但扎富塔表示，一项“冷门法律”很快让事情变得复杂起来。该法规限制了城市可获得的图书馆建设资金额度。在新冠疫情期间，他不得不向州立法委员会作证，争取推翻这项规定。最终投票全票通过，为小镇启动该项目扫清了障碍。
“一开始，想到要从零开始建一座图书馆，我压力特别大。但一旦动工，一切都顺理成章了，”市书记员杰米·米耶尔德说道。
正在建设中的弗rontenac公共图书馆 弗rontenac公共图书馆
打造社区公共空间
教师、历史学家兼弗rontenac本地人赛斯·纳特被聘为图书馆馆长。
“当我有机会以图书馆馆长的身份为社区倾注心血时，我毫不犹豫地决定抓住这次机会，”纳特说道，“对我来说，这是一次值得放手一搏的尝试。”
从一开始，他的目标就是打造一个如同社区客厅般的空间。
“我想弗rontenac此前根本不知道自己错过了什么，”纳特说道。
在得知捐款消息五年后，经过纳特、米耶尔德和社区成员无数个小时的辛勤工作，弗rontenac公共图书馆于2025年11月正式对外开放。
赛斯·纳特与女儿和她的朋友一同阅读 哥伦比亚广播公司《周六早晨》栏目
“这是一项艰巨的任务，但意义非凡，能从头参与到整个项目中，真的太棒了，”米耶尔德说道。
如今，图书馆的书架上摆放着超过1.7万册图书。馆内还为不同年龄段的人群举办各类活动，包括儿童故事会、青少年烹饪课和成人读书俱乐部。这里同时也是麦凯街咖啡馆和遗产厅博物馆的所在地。该博物馆是首个专门展示弗rontenac历史的场馆，同样由纳特负责管理。
“人们总会争论到底需不需要图书馆，但当你亲眼看到它，看到社区成员踊跃参与其中时，就会明白我们确实需要这样一座图书馆，”消防中尉兼建筑检查员贾斯汀·齐森尼斯说道，他曾带着6岁的女儿来图书馆选书。
“我认为它给这个社区带来了改变。它吸引了更多人前来，越来越多的学生开始参与阅读，”八年级学生赖琳·格思-巴诺说道，她当时来图书馆参加烹饪课。
两名图书馆读者在玩玩具 哥伦比亚广播公司《周六早晨》栏目
揭开神秘捐赠者的更多面纱
不过，关于塔韦拉夫妇的疑问依然存在。两人都没有公开的讣告，也没有已知的在世亲属。纳特四处搜寻关于他们的更多信息，直到一次偶然的发现终于解开了谜团。
“我们收到了一整箱他们的私人物品，我在整理他们的相册时，认出了其中一对老年夫妇，他们出现在好几张照片里，”纳特说道，“而我恰好认识这对老年夫妇的女儿。”
纳特联系了这位女士。她表示自己曾是塔韦拉夫妇婚礼上的花童，还知道夫妇二人的安葬地点：就在图书馆附近的路边。
珍妮特和理查德·塔韦拉的婚礼合影 弗rontenac公共图书馆
“他们生前无人知晓，我想这也是我们热衷于讲述他们的故事、为他们正名的原因之一，”纳特说道，“他们如此慷慨地信任这座城市，我希望确保我们建造的这座图书馆能让他们感到骄傲。”
想要让塔韦拉夫妇感到骄傲、纪念他们的这份心意，激励着纳特确保图书馆运营成功。
“塔韦拉夫妇显然对如何留下自己的遗产、在世界上留下印记有着清晰的愿景，”纳特说道，“尤其是珍妮特，她充分了解图书馆以及运营所需的条件，我想她或许早已料到，这座图书馆不仅能为图书馆项目带来更多参与机会，还能创造志愿服务的机会，让整个社区能够参与到这项特别的事业中来。”
理查德和珍妮特·塔韦拉 弗rontenac公共图书馆
纳特表示，图书馆团队“才刚刚起步”。
“想到未来几代弗rontenac的孩子，乃至整个社区的男女老少，未来多年都能使用这个地方……我们甚至还无法估量它的潜力，以及我们将对后世子孙产生怎样的影响，”他说道。
Mysterious donation gives small Kansas town its first public library
April 4, 2026 11:10 AM EDT / CBS News
By Elissa Candiotti
For over 140 years, the small town of Frontenac, Kansas had almost everything its 3,000 residents needed – except a public library.
All that changed when city administrator John Zafuta got an unexpected phone call in 2019.
“It was a surprise,” Zafuta said. “An attorney told us that we were the sole beneficiary of the Tavella family trust.”
Richard and Jeanette Tavella had both grown up in Frontenac before moving north to Kansas City, where Jeanette worked as a librarian until her death in 2019. Richard had died the year before. The couple wanted to use their parting gift to write a new legacy in their hometown. The town would receive $4.6 million from their estate, and use it to build Frontenac’s first public library.
But an “obscure law” quickly complicated matters, Zafuta said. The statute limits the amount of money cities can receive for libraries. During the coronavirus pandemic, he had to testify to a state legislative committee to see if the rule could be overturned. The final vote was unanimous, clearing the way for the town to break ground on the project.
“At first, thinking about creating a library from the ground up, it was pretty overwhelming. But once we got started, things just really fell into place,” said City Clerk Jayme Mjelde.
The Frontenac Public Library under construction. Frontenac Public Library
Building a space for community
Seth Nutt, a teacher, historian and Frontenac native, was brought on as the library’s director.
“Whenever I saw this opportunity to pour my heart back into my community as a library director, I mean, it was a no-brainer for me that I needed to make that leap of faith,” Nutt said.
From the beginning, his goal was to create a space that felt like a community living room.
“I think Frontenac really didn’t know what it was missing,” said Nutt.
Five years after the city first found out about the donation, and after countless hours of hard work from Nutt, Mjelde and community members, the Frontenac Public Library opened its doors in November 2025.
Seth Nutt reads with his daughter and her friend. CBS Saturday Morning
“It has been a huge task, but one that has just been so meaningful, and just amazing to be a part of from start to finish,” Mjelde said.
Today, its shelves hold over 17,000 titles. The library also hosts activities catered to different age groups, including story time for children, cooking classes for teens and book clubs for adults. It’s also home to the McKay Street Coffeehouse and the Heritage Hall Museum. The museum is the first dedicated exclusively to Frontenac’s history, and is also overseen by Nutt.
“You hear people debate, do you need a library, do you not? And once you see it, and once you see how involved the community is with it, we’ve definitely needed it,” said fire lieutenant and building inspector Justin Ziesenis, who had brought his six-year-old daughter to the library to pick out books.
“I think it has made a difference in this community. It’s drawing more people here, and more students are getting involved with reading books,” said eighth-grader Rylinn Girth-Barnow, who had come to the library for a cooking class.
Two library patrons play with toys. CBS Saturday Morning
Learning more about mysterious donors
Still, questions lingered about the Tavellas. There are no public obituaries for either Richard or Jeannette. They do not have any known, living family members. Nutt searched far and wide for more information about them, until a chance discovery finally offered answers.
“We got one tote of all their personal belongings, and as I was going through some of their photo albums, I recognized one of the older couples that they were in several pictures with,” Nutt said. “And I happened to know this older couple’s daughter.”
Nutt reached out to the woman. She said that she had been the flower girl at the Tavellas’ wedding. She also knew where the couple had been buried: Just down the road from the library.
Jeanette and Richard Tavella at their wedding. Frontenac Public Library
“It’s so sad that they’ve went unrecognized, and I think that’s part of why we’re so passionate about telling our story, to give them credit,” said Nutt. “They trusted the city with this generosity, so I wanted to make sure that I was building something that they were proud of.”
The desire to make the Tavellas proud and honor their memory has motivated Nutt to ensure the library’s success.
“The Tavellas obviously had a vision for how they wanted to leave their legacy and leave their mark on the world,” said Nutt. “I think with Jeanette, especially, having a full understanding of libraries and what it takes to run one, I think she was probably aware that this was gonna open up not only opportunities for participation in library programming, but open up volunteer opportunities and open up the opportunity for a community to buy into something really special.”
Richard and Jeanette Tavella. Frontenac Public Library
Nutt said that the library team is “just getting started.”
“Knowing that future generations of Frontenac kids and children from the greater community young and old are gonna have this place to utilize for years to come … I don’t even think we know the potential and how we’re going to impact future generations,” he said.