BOOKMARK GESTURE: Friends, loved ones of departed reader dedicate public bookcase to her

Kris Weston loved to read and she loved taking long walks outside the Newton Arboretum, which was only a few blocks from where she and her husband, Craig Weston, lived. Her friends and loved ones built and installed a public bookcase in her memory last week, an act they say she also would have loved.

Shaped like an old barn house (which Craig said would have made his wife, an Iowa farm girl, very proud), the bookcase can hold several kinds of literature for both adults and children. Kris’ longtime friend, Terri Stokes, filled it with as many novels, graphic novels and children’s stories as she could.

“I think she would be pretty happy that we’re sharing that and keeping that love of books going,” Stokes said. “It would be just what she wanted.”

Stokes met Kris in 1976. They were both enrolled at Des Moines Area Community College and studying child development. Eventually they would work together at Peck Child Development Center in Newton — where Kris worked for 40 years — until Stokes moved away. But they remained very close friends.

Kris died of cancer at the age of 64 this past April. Stokes remembered how she and Kris shared a love of books and decided to dedicate a Little Free Library-certified bookcase in her honor. What better place than the Newton Arboretum, which is already installed with a memorial bench in Kris’ name.

From left: Terri Stokes, Russ Stokes and Craig Weston install the Little Free Library-certified public bookcase onto its post in the Newton Arboretum. (Christopher Braunschweig)

“What we hope is somebody will take a book out and sit on the bench and read,even if it’s just reading it and put it back for other kids,” Stokes said. “Kris really loved to read. (Her daughter) told us, ‘We found three boxes of books that said: Need to read.’ Her and I shared books all the time.”

Craig confirmed his place is still full of books, a sign of Kris’ passion.

“She bought books and gave ‘em away,” he said. “We still have a house basically full of books that she had picked up at different places to take to Peck and give to kids … I hope it’s the kids that will come and take books and return books so somebody else can read ‘em and just keep it going.”

Little Free Library is non-profit organization based in Hudson, Wisc., whose mission is “to be a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers and expanding book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led” bookcases. Books in the case are free to take by anyone.

On the flip side, readers in the community are encouraged to donate literature to the Little Free Library. A plaque on one side of the bookcase says it is in memory of Kris, March 27, 1957 – April 1, 2021. Very appropriately, the plaque is also engraved with a quote by Dr. Seuss:

You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.