QUINCY - The new Quincy Public Library is expected to open in November, and no one is more excited than longtime patron Roxa Kreimeyer.

"Excited? Oh my, we're so excited," she said recently. "It's a beautiful building. Everything is first class. Everything's so functional."

The new library is located at Central Avenue and C street. It is spacious and of a modern design by architect Brad Brisbane of Wenatchee.

Kreimeyer was a young mother of three when she and her husband Norman Peters moved here in 1958. An educator, she followed Mary Kazda, her English teacher at Clarkston High School, here.

Both were fans of books. So they were drawn to the public library immediately.

"It was in the Women's Club Hall, an old clapboard building on D St. SE," Kreimeyer said. "I was eventually torn down."

The Clarkston friends started a book club with no name in 1970. In 1993, it was named the Mary Kazda Book Club.

A year later, club member Kay Judge spearheaded a drive to create the Mary Kazda Art Space, where library patrons have held exhibits over the years.

"Mary loved the library, and Kay understood that," Kreimeyer said.

The Peters came to Quincy to farm and teach. Norman taught music three years and then dedicated himself to the farm.

"We both played trombone," Roxa said. "He led the Basinaires Barbershop Chorus."

Roxa didn't work right away, at least not as a teacher. She added a fourth child to her family soon after arriving.

Roxa started teaching in 1962, subbing, working part-time and full-time at various times during her career. She worked in the elementary system in Quincy and George, and much of her work was music instruction.

Norman died of cancer in 1984. In 1985, Roxa married Victor Kreimeyer, another trombonist, and they moved to McMinnville, Ore, where he had a winery. They came back in 1991, and Roxa picked up where she'd left off with the library.

Roxa is not a painter, but it's not a big leap from music to painting. She appreciates art and the people who produce it.

"My aunt, who lived with us part-time, was an artist," she said. "My mom took up painting."

One of Roxa's assignments now is to collect art pieces for the walls of the new library. Most of them are by local artists. She has them stored in a den. They include:

"Washington Mountain" by Moises Napoles of Quincy.

"Columbia River Crescent Bar" by Joyce Peterson, deceased, of Quincy.

"The Laborer" by Katherine Downing of Ephrata, formerly of Quincy.

"Autumn Tapestry" by Danna Dal Porto of Quincy.

"The Gorge at George" by Debby Kooy of George.

The collection includes a sculpture by Ric Trevino and photographs by James and Mary Bennett of Quincy, Harry Brink of Quincy and Wesley Nelson of Quincy.

All of them should be in place when the library celebrates an open house in December.