With a gift from the estate of a long-time Rindge resident, the Ingalls Memorial Library will be installing a generator to allow the building to continue operating and offer warming services during major blackouts.

During a Select Board meeting on Wednesday, the Rindge board held a short public hearing to accept unanticipated funds, for a total of $79,632, from a bequest from the estate of Don Burness, a Rindge resident who died in 2022.

Burness, 80 at the time of his passing, was an teacher author who had published a dozen books on the history, culture, literature and art of Africa. He had multiple short book of poetry. For 33 years, he was a professor of English at Franklin Pierce College.

Ingalls Memorial Library Director Donna Straitiff said that she would like to use the funds from the bequest to install an all-building generator, which would allow the library to continue to run in the event of a power outage.

Straitiff said one of the advantages would be to have a public warming location, to allow people to access heat and electricity to charge their devices. She said the library could not be used overnight due to its lack of sprinkler system.

“We’ve wanted a generator for many years,” Straitiff said.

Select Board Chair Karl Pruter said the generator that the library had gotten a quote for was diesel fueled, and rated to be able to power the building, including the elevator.

Other than a question about the kind of fuel it used, there was only one public comment on the merit of the purchase of a generator, with resident Roberta Oeser encouraging the board to approve it, calling it “very generous” of Burness, and of the library.

With no other public comment, the board voted unanimously to accept the donation, and to authorize Town Administrator Lori Rautiola to sign for the purchase of the generator.

In other votes made on Wednesday, the board also accepted two donations to the Rindge Police Department, totalling $150, in the memory of Frank Battaglia, 77, of Rindge, who passed on Nov. 17. Battaglia’s family requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made in Battaglia’s name to either the Rindge Police Department, Jaffrey Police Department, or the Jaffrey-Rindge Memorial Ambulance.

 

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.