In addition to celebrating its 75th anniversary, the Whitman County Rural Library District marks another important event in its history this year.

Kristie Kirkpatrick will retire this fall to spend more time with her six children and 16 grandchildren. Kirkpatrick has been with the library district for 33 years, and spent the past 21 years as its director.

She said she was motivated to join the library for a simple reason.

“At the base of it is helping people and making a difference,” she said.

Visiting with families and meeting new people are among the perks of the job for Kirkpatrick. She fondly recalled meeting people at the small town parades the libraries participated in, and the crowd that showed during a ribbon cutting for the renovated Colfax location in 2010.

“I just am so thankful to have been a library director in such a supportive community,” she said.

She became manager of the Rosalia branch in 1988, and would become the district’s system administrator. She was tasked with helping the library district improve its technology, and she said one of the highlights of her career was being visited by Bill Gates in 2002 in culmination of his five-year, $200 million project to bring internet access and computers to 5,800 libraries in all 50 states.

Another highlight, she said, was taking trips to Washington, D.C., and Olympia to advocate for the importance of Washington libraries.

Catalina Flores, Whitman County Rural Library District public services manager, said Kirkpatrick took on numerous tasks that moved the library district forward, including assisting with hirings, promoting the library to the public, coordinating with Whitman County towns and getting approvals from the board of trustees.

“When I see Kristie, I see her as the face of all Whitman County libraries,” Flores said.

Kirkpatrick said she is grateful to the many individuals and businesses who have helped keep the library district running through donations that funded everything from building improvements, to classes, to summer reading programs.

Kirkpatrick said many people who donated are not patrons, but still want to support the community.

“When you are supporting the library you are supporting everybody,” she said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.