In
September of 19
97,
Harry "Buck" O'Hare approached librarian Suzanne Clark with ways to have a memorial
to his parents. Mary said
she walked past the stairs one day; looked up toward the landing and was suddenly
struck by an idea. For several years Clark had wanted to put a stained
glass window into the library but didn't have the money, so she suggested that
the O'Hare's donate money for it. When they agreed to the
idea, Nick Parrendo of Hunt Studios made two designs and
the O'Hare family chose one.
Earlier in the year the O'Hare parents had died within 18 days of each other.
They were longtime residents of Bellevue and Harry and his brothers and sisters
wanted the community to have something to remember them by. Mrs. Clark
says she was unsure as to what kind of memorial could be used since most memorials
in the park are for war veterans. The design for the window commemorates
a tree that stood in the park for approximately 400 years. A dedication
ceremony was held for the window on October 18, 1998. You can now see
it on the landing of the stairs leading to the children's rooms in the library.
Post Gazette article on the stained glass window