Mysterious donation gives small Kansas town its first public library

 For over 140 years, the small town of Frontenac, Kansas had almost everything its 3,000 residents needed – except a public library. 

All that changed when city administrator John Zafuta got an unexpected phone call in 2019. 

“It was a surprise,” Zafuta said. “An attorney told us that we were the sole beneficiary of the Tavella family trust.”

Richard and Jeanette Tavella had both grown up in Frontenac before moving north to Kansas City, where Jeanette worked as a librarian until her death in 2019. Richard had died the year before. The couple wanted to use their parting gift to write a new legacy in their hometown. The town would receive $4.6 million from their estate, and use it to build Frontenac’s first public library.  

But an “obscure law” quickly complicated matters, Zafuta said. The statute limits the amount of money cities can receive for libraries. During the coronavirus pandemic, he had to testify to a state legislative committee to see if the rule could be overturned. The final vote was unanimous, clearing the way for the town to break ground on the project. 

“At first, thinking about creating a library from the ground up, it was pretty overwhelming. But once we got started, things just really fell into place,” said City Clerk Jayme Mjelde. 

Building a space for community 

Seth Nutt, a teacher, historian and Frontenac native, was brought on as the library’s director. 

“Whenever I saw this opportunity to pour my heart back into my community as a library director, I mean, it was a no-brainer for me that I needed to make that leap of faith,” Nutt said. 

From the beginning, his goal was to create a space that felt like a community living room.

“I think Frontenac really didn’t know what it was missing,” said Nutt. 

Five years after the city first found out about the donation, and after countless hours of hard work from Nutt, Mjelde and community members, the Frontenac Public Library opened its doors in November 2025.

 “It has been a huge task, but one that has just been so meaningful, and just amazing to be a part of from start to finish,” Mjelde said. 

Today, its shelves hold over 17,000 titles. The library also hosts activities catered to different age groups, including story time for children, cooking classes for teens and book clubs for adults. It’s also home to the McKay Street Coffeehouse and the Heritage Hall Museum. The museum is the first dedicated exclusively to Frontenac’s history, and is also overseen by Nutt. 

“You hear people debate, do you need a library, do you not? And once you see it, and once you see how involved the community is with it, we’ve definitely needed it,” said fire lieutenant and building inspector Justin Ziesenis, who had brought his six-year-old daughter to the library to pick out books. 

“I think it has made a difference in this community. It’s drawing more people here, and more students are getting involved with reading books,” said eighth-grader Rylinn Girth-Barnow, who had come to the library for a cooking class. 

Learning more about mysterious donors 

Still, questions lingered about the Tavellas. There are no public obituaries for either Richard or Jeannette. They do not have any known, living family members. Nutt searched far and wide for more information about them, until a chance discovery finally offered answers. 

“We got one tote of all their personal belongings, and as I was going through some of their photo albums, I recognized one of the older couples that they were in several pictures with,” Nutt said.. “And I happened to know this older couple’s daughter.”

Nutt reached out to the woman. She said that she had been the flower girl at the Tavellas’ wedding. She also knew where the couple had been buried: Just down the road from the library. 

“It’s so sad that they’ve went unrecognized, and I think that’s part of why we’re so passionate about telling our story, to give them credit,” said Nutt. “They trusted the city with this generosity, so I wanted to make sure that I was building something that they were proud of.”

The desire to make the Tavellas proud and honor their memory has motivated Nutt to ensure the library’s success. 

“The Tavellas obviously had a vision for how they wanted to leave their legacy and leave their mark on the world,” said Nutt. “I think with Jeanette, especially, having a full understanding of libraries and what it takes to run one, I think she was probably aware that this was gonna open up not only opportunities for participation in library programming, but open up volunteer opportunities and open up the opportunity for a community to buy into something really special.”

Nutt said that the library team is “just getting started.” 

“Knowing that future generations of Frontenac kids and children from the greater community young and old are gonna have this place to utilize for years to come … I don’t even think we know the potential and how we’re going to impact future generations,” he said.