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Mary Jean Brestle Loveday is pictured with her reading partner and grandson, Eric.

About Mary Jean Brestle Loveday

Mary Jean Brestle Loveday was a Woodsfield native who had a lifelong passion for sharing her love of reading with the children she met. She was never without a book to slip into gifts for nieces, nephews or friends – or to put in the hands of little strangers. She believed children should be encouraged to love books and value reading and, in her low-key way, acted on that belief throughout her adult life.

When Amos Loveday and his daughter, Amy, were considering how to honor Mary Jean’s legacy, memories of her shopping for just the right children’s book and of her countless trips to the library with her grandson often came to mind. As Amos observed, “A gift that would carry forward Mary Jean’s love of children and reading just seemed natural.”

Amos added, “I was doubly please to contribute to FAO. Given that Mary Jean and I both grew up in eastern Ohio, I felt it was only right that we invest in that region and FAO. The work the Foundation does is so important for that part of the state, which both Mary Jean and I often referred to as ‘down-home.’”

Support the Mary Jean Brestle Loveday Legacy Fund

Gifts to the Mary Jean Brestle Loveday Legacy Fund are tax-deductible and can be made in many ways, including cash, bequests, stock, real estate, royalties, insurance beneficiaries and qualified charitable distributions from IRAs.

To mail your donation, please designate the fund and mail to the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, 35 Public Square, Nelsonville, OH 45764.

Donations can be made online by designating the Mary Jean Brestle Loveday Legacy Fund when donating.