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Photograph by George Sakkestad
Mary Jeanne Fenn enjoys searching for hidden treasures when she sorts through books for the Book-Go-Round.
Chamber honors Fenn as Citizen of the Year
By Steve Enders
Mary Jeanne Fenn likes her projects. They're like puzzles--tasks she can tackle, figure out, conquer and solve.
One of those "projects" is Saratoga's Book-Go-Round, a clearing house of sorts for used books and prized by book dealers and the community. She manages the place and its 130-plus volunteers somehow, and still finds time to work her way through other projects.
Her efforts around town this year and in the past have earned an unexpected honor--selection as Saratoga's Citizen of the Year.
Fenn was selected by Saratoga's Chamber of Commerce two weeks ago, and was honored at a dinner at the Saratoga Country Club on June 17, and by the city of Saratoga in a proclamation read by Mayor Jim Shaw also on June 17.
Abby Krimotat, the Chamber's executive director, said that Fenn won this year's award rather handily. The process includes peer nominations and a grading system by a committee within the Chamber. "I couldn't be happier that she was chosen for my first event," Krimotat said of Fenn. "She's always in the background, doing things."
And that's where Fenn likes to be--in the background. Even working the counter at the Book-Go-Round isn't her true love. She likes to get down and dirty with the books that come in and are shipped over to its sorting and pricing room near City Hall. There, she says, she can rummage through the books, looking for the occasional rare treasure.
"What I like about this project," she says, "is that it's doing something great for the community and the library, and it's a great treasure hunt. You never know what you're going to find."
Fenn has been working with the Book-Go-Round for 13 years, and found her treasure in that sorting room the very first time she set foot in there 10 years ago. She found a copy of The History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh--printed in 1642.
She doesn't remember how much it brought, but it claimed a significant price at auction for the Saratoga Community Library. The Book-Go-Round holds auctions twice a year, and proceeds go to the library, as all of its retail proceeds do.
"I just love getting into things, and finding out about things, and what makes a book special," she says.
Fenn moved to California with her husband, Al, in 1978 after working in Washington, D.C., with the National Security Agency. Like the book treasure she found, the Fenn's successful relationship began on the day the two both started working for the agency, on the very same day.
Here, she raised two daughters and a son, who are grown and have families of their own now. The New York state natives meet each summer at their cottage on Lake Ontario every year for big family get-togethers.
Now, she says her husband shudders at two things--that he ever taught her to use a computer and when she asks him what his schedule is for a day--it usually means she'll ask him to do something for the Book-Go-Round.
But it's Saratoga and the surrounding areas that she loves and volunteers so much of her time for. Fenn says she doesn't know how much time each week she spends at the Book-Go-Round, and she doesn't spend much time behind the counter anymore but comes in after hours to scurry around to see that other things get done. She also says she takes a lot of work home with her.
"It's in my thought process most of the time," Fenn says. "This is the ultimate project. It's for a good cause, and it helps the whole community."
She says she enjoys working on Sundays, when many Saratoga families stop by--the shop is a good social outlet as well, because she gets to meet many in the community.
The soft-spoken Fenn says she is undeserving of the Citizen of the Year honor, and originally tried to find a way out of it.
"I ride along on the shoulders of all these people," she says. "The people selected for this before me, they're all good people--real movers and shakers. It's overwhelming to be selected, and I don't consider myself one of them."
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Saratoga, California Since 1975
