By Scott Okamoto
From 1909 until 2010 the Courtland Library operated out of personal homes and living rooms in the community of Courtland. The Courtland Library was 100 years old in 2010 and for the last 67 years, the library had been run by volunteers. For 23 years of that hundred, it was a county run library.
In 1992, the country library administration did not renew the lease on the building that housed the Courtland Library (next to the post office). Administration allowed the library to keep its existing collection of books and the River Delta Unified School District gave space on the Courtland Elementary School grounds for the volunteer library to continue.
From 1993 until 2003, the library was kept open by volunteers. Nonie Wetzel spearheaded the movement to keep the library doors open, where she spent countless hours sorting and shelving books. Nonie and other community members worked tirelessly to keep the library operating. Nonie, having been a teacher for 29 years herself, knew the value and importance of books. She strongly believed that the children of Courtland and their parents deserved easy access to a community library.
As a fruit of their efforts, on May 1, 2003, the official opening of the new Courtland Library was celebrated. The new library was a collaborative effort of the Sacramento Public Library and the River Delta Unified School District. The new building that houses the library was made possible through a grant of $200,000 by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. Nonie was elated to maintain an accessible location for the community of Courtland where she lived.
Members of the community felt strongly that the library was still in existence only because of Nonie’s leadership and the efforts of her fellow volunteers. County Supervisor Don Notolli, the Sacramento Public Library and the River Delta School District were approached by members of the community for permission to rename the library in Nonie’s honor. The request was approved unanimously and on August 21, 2016 a renaming ceremony was held and the library is now officially known as “Nonie Wetzel Courtland Community Library”.
Nonie was born in Alturas, CA, but was raised in Portland Oregon. Nonie’s mother was a homemaker and worked in her family owned restaurant. Her father was a laborer and worked in the lumber mills. She said that her parents always prompted her and her brothers to “go to school and get a good education.” They encouraged Nonie to attend college and follow her dreams of becoming a teacher.
Nonie moved to Yreka, CA, where she graduated high school. Shortly thereafter, she met and married her husband, and they lived together in Eugene, Oregon. Their move to Sacramento enabled Nonie to attend California State University and graduate with her degree in Childhood Development and Education. Their eventual move to Courtland was sight unseen. “My husband got a job in Courtland, which we had never visited, but it allowed me to go to California State, so we were off,” she said.
Following college graduation, Nonie started a family and welcomed their two children, a daughter who was a successful attorney, and a son who became a successful landscape designer.
Nonie and her husband both continued their careers as teachers while raising two children. Nonie taught Consumer and Homemaking Education while her husband taught Science. She affectionately added, “I was a good teacher, but he was excellent!” Nonie left teaching when her daughter passed away from cancer and her husband needed her at home. Later she would become a consultant for the State Department of Education.
Nonie now calls ACC Maple Tree Village home and is excited to once again start a library from the ground up. Nonie says that she would “love to see a variety of books…including a good fiction section.” She says that with the help and generosity of book readers in the community, “the library will build itself overtime. There are a lot of generous people out there.” ACC Maple Tree Village is now accepting donations of current books in new or gently used condition to begin their community library accessible for residents and staff. Under the guidance of Nonie, ACC Maple Tree Village’s Resident Library is sure to share the love and appreciation of books for years to come!
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