When Kerry Living-ston began working at the Stinson Beach Library, the books were stacked from floor to ceiling in a 300-square-foot shack on Highway 1. But in her 32-year tenure, the library, much like the town itself, has transformed and modernized. Her warmth and resourcefulness served her well as she created a unique and welcoming environment, guiding community members to materials and, often, assisting visitors looking for wi-fi or directions out of town.
Ms. Livingston is retiring on March 28, closing her career with an art exhibition that chronicles her work in different media, from drawings to embroidery, woven rugs and large-scale paintings. She said she is excited to take on new adventures and to be relieved of the demands of fast-paced new technologies.
“I just feel like it’s time for these younger librarians to have their time,” she said. “They’re going to do great. It’s time for me to step aside.”
Ms. Livingston grew up on the campus of an all-boys boarding school in Los Olivos, north of Santa Barbara. Her father, Carl Munger, was the headmaster of the school, and her mother, Katherine Munger, was the librarian. When the unforgiving Southern California sun heated up campus, Ms. Livingston would seek refuge in the library, with its cool concrete floors. There she helped her mother sort books and explored the world through the pages of English classics.
In summertime, her family would travel to their second home in Inverness. During their stays in West Marin, her mother and a cousin, Kate Throop, would sometimes substitute for the Stinson Beach librarian.
Ms. Livingston attended Pitzer College outside of Los Angeles, but she said her true education came from the books she read and from her scholarly and progressive parents. After graduating from Pitzer in 1973, she returned to Inverness, working odd jobs to make rent, from cooking Czechoslovakian cuisine at Manka’s to making jewelry for Andrew Romanoff’s small hash-pipe business.
While living for a stint in San Francisco in the late ‘70s, she returned to Inverness to visit her sister, Kate, who was helping a friend, Dewey Livingston, get a job conducting the Tomales Bay Choir. The two had met through Mr. Livingston’s brother Marshall, who had been in West Marin for some years. Mr. Livingston describes meeting his wife as an instant click. They scheduled a date for later that week at Alamere Falls.
“We went on a hike on Jan. 13, 1983 and we’ve been together ever since,” she said.
The two shuffled through various homes from Tomasini Canyon to Olema, and eventually had three children: Molly, Ben and Nora. The family lived on historic ranches while Mr. Livingston worked as a historian for the National Park Service.
Now grown, the Livingston children reflect the same curiosity about nature, love of knowledge and artistic talent shared by their parents. Nora, a naturalist, is currently in Colombia researching birds; Ben, who lives on a family property in Inverness, is an artist and a musician; and Molly, who is raising two children in Inverness, recently graduated with a master’s in library and information science.
In 1986, Ms. Livingston’s friend Nancy Hemmingway, an Inverness librarian, told her that the library needed a substitute and encouraged her to apply. Ms. Livingston got the job. At the time, the card catalogs that organized books were slowly being phased out in favor of early computers—large, clunky machines that were pushed to their limits when local kids used them to play early versions of Pac-Man.
Five years later, she saw an opening at the Stinson Beach Library. She was hired, working the first half of the day in Stinson and the second half in Bolinas before becoming Stinson Beach’s full-time librarian.
The Stinson Beach Library was founded in 1936, just eight years after Panoramic Highway was constructed and a year before the Golden Gate Bridge opened. The library moved around town until 1967, when it settled into the shell of F. C. Algar’s Stinson Beach Supply Company building on Highway 1—a structure destroyed in an explosion in 2020.
In 1999, Albert Engel, the landlord for the property, bought a hollow 7-Eleven up the road with the intention of transforming it into a new space for the library. “We moved in nine months later,” Ms. Livingston said. “A beautiful, beautiful 3,000-square-foot building—it was a huge change.”
The new library had more than just space. There were private study areas, a patio, lots of computers, a separate reading room and a whole wall dedicated to art exhibitions named after James Grant, a sculptor and artist who lived in Stinson Beach in the 1950s.
In the expanded facility, Ms. Livingston facilitated book groups and art shows and maintained the Stinson Beach Historical Society’s archives and audio and video collections. “People are always coming in asking for historical photos and accounts about different things,” Ms. Livingston said. “I get to pick up the phone and ask Mr. Livingston!”
Mr. Livingston praised his wife for keeping up with all the changes over time. “She started during a time when things were organized by a completely different system, and she’s adjusted well. But her talent is in the personal connections she’s established with the community,” he said.
She’s never missed a monthly meeting with the West Marin branch staff, and when the pandemic hit, she worked as the curbside librarian and volunteered on the West Marin Community Response Team. Ms. Livingston said that love from patrons has poured in with the announcement of her retirement.
“I’ve known her for more than 40 years,” Point Reyes Station resident Myn Adess said. “I had no idea she was so multi-talented. She’s an extraordinary artist.”
Her exhibit, aptly named “Kerry’s Other World,” is on display at the Stinson Beach Library through the month of March. It is a showcase of the art she makes on her days off, along with pieces dating back to her youth, from drawings of Santa Claus made at age 5 to a dress she helped embroider with her mother in her 20s. Her contemporary work includes large, colorful works of visionary art and embroidered pieces that reflect West Marin’s lush landscapes.
Ms. Livingston’s last day is March 28. A celebration takes place April 2 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the community center.