Bonnie's books … and all that jazz | News, Sports, Jobs – The Steubenville Herald-Star
Dec 24, 2021
Former Wintersville resident Bonnie Harvey DiDomenico was an avid reader who donated her collection of 675 books to the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County. DiDomenico donated them to the Wintersville Woman’s Club that she was a member of which in turn gifted them to the library system as a community service project. The donation included 545 jazz CDs that belonged to her mother, the late Dorothy Jean Harvey. — Contributed
STEUBENVILLE — The Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County gets donations of books and items from time to time, but a recent one of quantity and quality made on behalf of the GFWC/OFWC Wintersville Woman’s Club is far from fiction, not to mention a Christmas gift of sorts with year-round appreciation appeal.
The giveaway required numerous trips and some physical commitment to bring from point A to point B the collection of 675 books belonging to former Wintersville resident Bonnie Harvey DiDomenico.
The 640 hardbacks and 35 paperbacks ultimately found a new home with the local library system.
And they came with a bonus, this one for listening enjoyment, not reading. The library became the new owner of a collection of jazz CDs to the tune of 545 items, ones that had belonged to DiDomenico’s mother, the late Dorothy Jean Harvey.
The how-this-happened details were shared by Suzy Crawford, a friend and fellow club member of the former area resident who relocated to Virginia to be with family. Crawford had helped clean out DiDomenico’s house.
“Bonnie and I discussed the books in May when I started cleaning out the house, and she and I thought it would be a good woman’s club project so she donated them to the club to gift to the library,” explained Crawford, who had a similar “wow” reaction as did Mike Gray, library director, when they saw the extent of the collection.
Although Crawford was surprised by the number of books that had accumulated, it was no secret that DiDomenico loved to read.
“Bonnie was an avid reader and always had a book with her everywhere she went,” Crawford said. “Her motto was ‘You never know when you have down time when you are out so carry a book with you.’”
That she did, according to Crawford, who said DiDomenico,who died on Dec. 19, would average two to three books a week.
“If Bonnie went into Wendy’s, she got her tray, sat down, opened the book and then she took a bite. All the local restaurants that she would eat at they would know her because there she was with her book. She was never without a bag with a book in it,” Crawford said, describing the collection as “an extensive and generous donation.”
A 1969 graduate of Wintersville High School, DiDomenico lived in the country on Powells Lane in Wintersville with her parents, the late Emmett Lee and Dorothy Jean Harvey, along with older sister Barbara and brother Bob. “She spent a lot of hours riding her horse Smokey. Barbara called her Annie Oakley,” Crawford said, adding that, DiDomenico, like her father, was “a crack shot with a gun.”
In her younger years, DiDomenico lived in New Jersey and worked as an airline stewardess for TWA out of New York. When she returned to Wintersville, she worked for Dr. Ronald Agresta and later became a public relations representative for an industrial safety equipment company. In that capacity, she traveled extensively in the United States and abroad. When she retired from Uvex, DiDomenico had received numerous awards for her leadership sales achievements, which was no surprise to her brother.
“When Bonnie had a job, she gave 110 percent in everything she did,” he said.
DiDomenico’s return to the area brought the discovery that her circle of friends had moved out of the area, according to Crawford, who had graduated from Wintersville High School in 1963 with DiDomenico’s sister. A group from the Class of 1963 had formed the YaYa Sisterhood which has met monthly for close to 35 years.
“We adopted her even though she was the little sister,” Crawford said in explaining how she came to better know DiDomenico.
“She was the life of the party, and she and Barbara could have done stand-up comedy. They kept everyone in stitches,” Crawford said, adding that the group appreciated her “priceless” book knowledge that kept the group informed on all kinds of problem solving. “If you mentioned you were having a problem with a bug or a plant, Bonnie had read about it,” Crawford said. “She was always giving us these tidbits of advice. You’d bring up a subject, and Bonnie had knowledge on it.”
DiDomenico was active in the Wintersville Woman’s Club in which her sister, the late Barbara Thermes, had served as president. DiDomenico served on various committees in the club and was most recently corresponding secretary before she moved because of health issues. She lives in Suffolk, Va., now with her daughter and son-in-law, Aymee and Ryan Silverthorn, and grandsons Asher and Benny.
“She started coming to YaYa’s and then she joined the women’s club, and we became fast friends,” Crawford said of how the friendship flourished. “When she needed the house taken care of, I went out and my son helped me,” Crawford said, pointing out that DiDomenico wanted things that could be given away to go to good use.
“This was her mother’s jazz,” Crawford said. “Her mother sat in the evenings in a rocking chair listening to jazz.”
DiDomenico was an active member at First Westminster Presbyterian Church in Steubenville where she served as a church elder, member of the church session, member of the worship and music committee and congregational care committee, serving dinners to grieving families. She participated in the Presbyterian Women’s Bible study and mission group as well.
She was an avid bird watcher and gardener, too, proud of her weed-free garden, according to Crawford.
“She delivered produce to shut-ins, and on Sunday mornings, opened her trunk at church and had members help themselves. She also was known to deliver meals to shut-ins, and when her sister Barb and brother-in-law Gil Thermes were very ill before passing, meals were taken in on a regular basis,” she said.
“Mike was elated over the quality of the books and overwhelmed with the quantity of the books when he had to make four trips to get them all down here,” Crawford said.
“I flipped out the first time I ever saw them,” she added.
The club’s donation of the gifted book and jazz CDs collection falls under the education and libraries community service program committees heading which Mary Ann Parker serves as chairman. “This will bring a lot of smiles to people who love jazz and to readers,” Parker said.
Gray explained the protocol of what happens when donations are made to the library.
“We usually perform a kind of ‘triage’ on donations, often in the garage of the main library,” he said. “Categories are: Books to add to collection, books to keep for Friends of the Library book sale, books for ‘Free-to-good-home’ shelf and recycling materials. The materials to be added are set aside and processed (plastic sheet cover, barcode, spine label) when time is available, usually by volunteer Alan Hall,” he said of the now retired library director. “Many older books are replacements for well-loved copies on our shelves.”
The vast majority of DiDomenico’s books are mysteries and thrillers, many James Patterson and Michael Connally titles, but there are some history and gardening books in the mix as well.
“The jazz CDs focused on vocalists, piano jazz and small combos, both old and new,” Gray commented. “I had Erika Grubbs, our local history librarian, select the ones to add to our collection. She’s a big jazz buff.”
DiDomenico’s donation ranks in the top five when it comes to quantity given to the library through the years, according to Gray.
“These types of donations are becoming more frequent as we proceed through the COVID-19 period,” he said. “Many people spent their time sequestered cleaning up their houses and out went the books. We here at the library are happy to receive donations of this sort, and we work hard to make use of as much of the gifts as we can.”
With that school of thought in session, Gray offers a suggestion.
“If there is one thing I would like to impress on readers who buy books, don’t let the book sit on your shelf if you’re done reading it,” he said. “As Marie Kondo says, if it isn’t bringing you joy, donate it,” he said, referring to the author and renowned tidying expert who starred in a Netflix show called “Tidying Up With Marie Kondo.”
“We have a great patron at our Dillonvale Branch Library, and he buys a new book, reads it and donates it,” Gray said. “Sometimes his book is processed and on the shelf before the copy we purchase is out. Share your literary riches with everyone while the book is fresh — you’ll feel better,” Gray added.
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