A gathering of volunteers and staff of Friends of the Library and library staff luncheon was held at the Cotati Library last week.
The Friends of the Library hold a luncheon every year for their volunteers and eventually it turned into a birthday party of Olwen Peterson, who is 100 years young. Mayor Gina Belforte presented Olwen with a proclamation from the City of Rohnert Park.
Olwen Peterson was born April 19, 1919 in Northern England of Welsh descent. She immigrated to San Francisco and enjoyed being in a Sunday school classroom where she would have a straight view to watch the San Francisco Seals playing at Seals Stadium. In 1941 she started teaching at Petaluma Junior High School and later went to Kenilworth High in Petaluma and after 10 years transferred to Rohnert Park Junior High School, which later became Mountain Shadows Middle School and is now Technology Middle School.
She retired from teaching in 1978 but several years later started volunteering at Friends of the Library and is still a busy figure among the stacks of books.