Library director turned love of books into job

Becky Presti, who served as both interim director and director of the Oberlin Public Library in the eighties, died last week at the age of 72.

A resident of Oberlin since she came to study at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in 1955, she graduated in 1959, but stayed to marry Gene Presti, a local man she met as a senior, whose parents started Presti's restaurant, a local eatery still operated by Presti descendants.

In a 1978 article about Becky Presti which appeared in the Oberlin News-Tribune, said she read "a book a day -- while the washer and dryer are going, while cooking pork chops or before going to bed. She usually has three books going at once, reading different types according to her mood or the time of day."

Her love of books, and reading, led to a three-and-a-half-year job working at the public library then located in the Carnegie building on the campus of Oberlin College before she decided to acquire a degree in library science from Kent State University. She received the degree in December, 1976, and began looking for a library position.

She worked as an Oberlin College catalog librarian before returning to the Oberlin Public Library where she was named interim library director in February, 1981, following the resignation of Eleanor Owen, who returned to full-time work in the children's room at the library.

In November, 1981, she was named permanent director of the library in a unanimous vote by the library board and remained for six years until she left the position in May, 1987.

A native of Dalton, Ohio, near Wooster, she grew up there and started piano lessons at age four. By the time she was in high school, Presti was playing piano for and acting in high school plays.

After her marriage to Gene Presti, she gave private piano lessons to students for 10 years. She became active in area acting troupes, including Oberlin Community Players and the Workshop Players of Amherst.

She and her husband had three children, Paul, Michele and Mary Chris.