Donor leaves library $198,000

A long-time summer resident of Whitefish has left a sizable contribution to the Whitefish Community Library.

Harriet Glanville left the library a bequest of $198,000 upon her death earlier this year.

A retired educator from California and avid golfer, Glanville had a special relationship with Whitefish. She spent her summers here to enjoy the courses and be closer to her cousin, Tom Glanville, and hid wife, Peggy.

“This is once again a testimony to the generosity of this community,” said library director Joey Kositzky. “There are so many people that we are grateful for, not only for monetary support, but for volunteerism and in-kind donations. Harriet is another example of how their generosity benefits an entire community, especially those who use the library.”

Born on Aug. 23, 1927 in Mason City, Iowa, Glanville moved to Long Beach, Calif. in 1938. She graduated from high school and went on to earn her undergraduate degree from the University of California in Los Angeles and her teaching certificate from Long Beach Sate.

Glanville was a physical education teacher at Paramount Junior High School and played golf competitively during the summers.

She was once described as a “trim blond” with a three handicap and was considered the player to beat in the 1960s and 1970s in Long Beach Regional women’s golf circles.

Her list of accomplishments include six Long Beach Women’s amateur crowns, four So Cal Women’s Publix Championships, and four Los Angeles Women’s Senior Championships. She was the club champion at each of the three Long Beach Women’s Clubs. She qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur 14 times and played in the U.S. Women’s Open as an amateur. Glanville was inducted into the Long Beach Golf Hall of Fame in 2000.

Glanville, who never married and lived with her mother until she passed away in 1987, said it was her mother who encouraged her to practice golf. Her mother also enjoyed reading and was likely the inspiration behind Glanville’s bequest.

The library’s staff helped provide large-print editions and other special material’s for Glanville’s mother when her eyesight began to fail.

“Harriet was both an educator and a brilliant golfer, and thus a believer in excellence,” said Anne Shaw Moran, vice chair of the library board of trustees. “It absolutely tickles me to think of her quietly reserving this bequest for the library — she definitely hit a philanthropic ‘hole-in-one’ for our community by doing so.”