Remembering former Kaubisch Memorial
Public Library Director Dan McGinnis

When Dan McGinnis passed away in October of last year, Fostoria lost the man who had been the director of its Kaubisch Memorial Public Library for 20 years.

Dan came to the library profession by a circuitous route. He was born and raised in Fostoria and graduated from Fostoria High School in 1945.

After graduation, he joined the Navy at the end of World War II. Following his discharge from the military, he went to Bowling Green State University on the GI Bill to study broadcasting, but transferred to the Detroit Electronics Institute.

When he completed his class work, he returned to Fostoria and went to work for RCA in Fremont repairing televisions. Then he opened his own music store, McGinnis Music Box, which operated downtown for a number of years. Dan sold and repaired televisions and radios and sold records.

It wasn't until the early 1960s that Dan decided upon librarianship as a profession. When he did it was back in BGSU to complete his undergraduate degree. Then he worked at the university as a reference librarian while commuting to the library school of the University of Michigan to obtain his master's degree.

In 1954, Dan's career pursuits took a back seat. On June 20, he married Pat Gary.

They had two children, Scott and Kathryn. Librarianship proved to be Dan's niche in the world.

"Dan was a true learner," said Pat. "He was always reading to find out about his interests and those of people who needed help."

He was a regional consultant for the State Library of Ohio. State Library consultants provide services to public, academic and special libraries in the state.

From 1967-70, he was the coordinator of adult special services and branches for Toledo Public Library. Then he got a phone call. It was from Mel Murray who has been on the library board here for over 45 years.

"Dan and I were friends for a long time — over 50 years," said Mel. "We had an opening here. Mrs. Brenner (Ruth) had retired. So I contacted Dan and I said,'How would you like to come back to your hometown?'"

Dan discussed it with Pat. He accepted the position of director of Kaubisch Memorial Public Library. Dan and Pat kept their residence in Bowling Green where Pat was in the midst of her own career as an educator.

Mel found Dan a cooperative person to work with.

"He was a real good thinker and was always positive and had a sense of humor. He always saw the better side of things. He always let the board decide for itself what it wanted to do. He never tried to run the board."

The library was undergoing an important change when Dan became director. A major renovation had taken place when Mts. Brenner was director, but there was still much work to be done.

"Dan came in and was able to capitalize on the beauty of it," said Mel. "He was in charge of the arrangement and utilization of the new space and he did a good job of that."

Under Dan's direction, the collection grew from 48,000 books to nearly 100,000 at the time of his retirement in 1989. He oversaw the completion of the Don and Judy Miller addition which added 3,300 square feet to the library.

Dan's successor, the library's current director, is Doris Ann Norris.

"Dan also started a lot of the microfilming and really beefed up the local history and genealogy collection," she said. "That was his love. He also started the obituary file."

Anyone who has ever done any family research can tell you what a big help an obituary file is.

"Dan loved books," said Doris Ann, "and he loved to read, especially historical things. He also hired a lot of good people."

Dan also cultivated a taste for fine music and combined it with his early interest in broadcasting so that others could enjoy the music.

"Dan had a program on the radio for a couple years on Sunday night — Music of the Masters," said Pat. "He used music available at Kaubisch."

He was also involved in an array of community activities both in Fostoria and Bowling Green.

He was president of Rotary and the Bureau of Concern, belonged to the United Way Budget Committee and board of the Fostoria Labor-Management-Citizen Committee, and promoted the library via speaking engagements before many community organizations.

Dan also served 20 years on the Bowling Green Planning Commission and on the advisory board of WBGU Channel 27.

Dan suffered from Crohn's Disease and diabetes. Cancer claimed his life October 1, 2000.

"Dan was a good and gentle man," said Pat. "Our family loved and miss him very much. He never complained about his illnesses nor said, ‘Why me?' but strove to do what was good and right. He truly ‘fought the good fight' and we know in heaven there's a library room just for him."