Wonderful gift Library: Burlington native leaves a legacy to lifelong learning

"Milton Riepe couldn't have created a more fitting legacy for his life of learning. Nor a more lasting contribution to his hometown. Riepe, a Des Moines lawyer who died last year, left $2.8 million to benefit the Burlington Public Library. It was his way of thanking the community for offering a place to spark his intellectual pursuits, which lasted a lifetime.  The timing of the bequest was coincidental to the advancing, and at times strained community dialogue about a bigger library. The generous gift shouldn't become a pawn in the legitimate but potentially testy dispute about whether to expand the historic library that Riepe frequented as a child, or build a new one. Library foundation board members say they will investigate Riepe's intentions for the use of the funds, including whether he meant for the principal to remain unspent.  His will apparently limited the use of the funds to books, programs, lectures or "facilities of value and interest to the public as directed by the foundation board." The gift cannot be used for salaries or library operating expenses normally paid by the city, according to foundation officials. Annual interest payments would offer a good way to add distinction to the local library. Rather than diminish the local commitment to a strong library, the wonderful  gift should enhance it to the point of making Burlington the envy of other Iowa communities. In that way, Milton Riepe's legacy can inspire repeated generations of children who share his appetite for learning. Letting the gift get tangled in an emotional tussle over building sites would jeopardize its significance and blur his apparent wish, which was to make whatever library local residents choose even better."