In Praise of Benefactors
Published: 9/1/2026
Written by: Sarah Nathe
I was working in the library last week when Randy Mendosa came in with a stack of his cousin Jeanette Hansen’s jigsaw puzzles to donate to our collection. As an executor of her estate, he promised some of her books next week. Her generosity to the library continues even after her death! Jeanette was a member of the extensive Mendosa family, daughter of William, the local grocer, and cousin to Alvin. Her death in May of 2025 marked the end of a generation.
She left her home town for about 30 years to go to college and teach high school English in Oakland, but she and her husband Jack returned here in 1977 when they retired. Ultimately, they moved into the original William Mendosa home east of the highway on Little Lake. Jeanette became a pillar of the Study Club and the Mendocino Community Library, which was started by the Study Club in 1947.
In 1987, when the library needed to find a new space, Jeanette and Jack offered a small house on the corner of Williams and Little Lake. This building had achieved some notoriety as a “brothel” in the 1954 film, “East of Eden,” but more recently had housed the single women school teachers in Mendocino. It was arranged that a newly formed library nonprofit could purchase it by paying the Hansens monthly interest only on the existing note. The Study Club paid the closing costs, legal fees, and most of the remodeling expenses and, on May 7, 1988, the library opened in its permanent home.
The library has continued to benefit from Jeanette’s support and generosity through the years, and, as if that weren’t enough, received a bequest from her estate when she died. When Randy Mendosa dropped off her jigsaws, he pointed out the notes Jeanette kept on the bottom of each puzzle box so she wouldn’t forget when she did them. We won’t forget what she did for us.
We won’t forget Chatter Bishoff either, though we don’t have any of her books or puzzles. A contemporary of Jeanette Hansen, she was born in Southern California, but moved here in 1972.
One friend of hers described her as “the Perle Mesta of Mendocino.” She fell in love with this community and made a habit of donating generously to nonprofit organizations she valued. She and her husband Jack supported many with their time and money, among them the Presbyterian Church, Rotary International, the Study Club and library, the Kelley House, and the Music Festival.
In 2004 the Bishoffs began an association with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County when they established a charitable trust to support 11 of their favorite nonprofits through annual grants for general operating costs. In 2016, after their deaths, their estate created the Jack and Chatter Bishoff Competitive Grants Program through the foundation to allow the organizations to apply for extra grants to support special projects and capital expenditure. These “rainy day” funds have helped the library replace the old furnace when it died a couple of winters ago and improve our disability access and parking. When the regular grants come in every year, it’s like bounty from heaven, which certainly must be where Chatter and Jack reside.
Speaking of the celestial realm, we can’t omit the newest voice in that choir, Dolly Parton, who told an interviewer in 2019 that she’d rather be remembered as “The Book Lady” than as “The Queen of Country Music.” Parton was an avid reader, and she wrote a number of books for children and adults, but it was her Imagination Library that won her the title she coveted. She launched the project in 1995 as a tribute to her father, who never learned to read, to distribute books to kids between the ages of one and five. Though she herself was raised without them, she believed that “all children should grow up in a home full of books.”
Initially, the program was focused on Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up, but it quickly expanded. By 2003, Imagination Library had sent its millionth book; at the time of her death, more than 300 million books had been gifted, according to the website (https://imaginationlibrary.com/). In California, the first state to provide a bilingual option, the program has sent nearly three million books to 160,000 children. In Mendocino County, the program is administered by First 5 Mendocino, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families through the first five years of a child’s life. Sign up for books in English or Spanish by calling the First 5 office at 707 462-4453, or go to their website (https://first5mendocino.org/).
In 2021, Parton teamed up with James Patterson to write “Run, Rose, Run,” a thriller that follows a young singer-songwriter on the run from Texas who catches the eye of a retired country music matriarch in Nashville. We have the novel in our collection. We also have “The Little Engine That Could,” a favorite of Parton’s. At a time when federal grants and aid to all kinds of nonprofits have been cut, we think we can because of the generosity of people like Jeanette, Chatter, and Dolly.
Stop by the Mendocino Community Library and look over our whole collection of books, DVDs, and puzzles. We’re open Monday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Visit the web page (https://www.mendocinocommunitylibrary.org/) to learn more about becoming a member or to find any item in the collection.
Written by: Sarah Nathe
I was working in the library last week when Randy Mendosa came in with a stack of his cousin Jeanette Hansen’s jigsaw puzzles to donate to our collection. As an executor of her estate, he promised some of her books next week. Her generosity to the library continues even after her death! Jeanette was a member of the extensive Mendosa family, daughter of William, the local grocer, and cousin to Alvin. Her death in May of 2025 marked the end of a generation.
She left her home town for about 30 years to go to college and teach high school English in Oakland, but she and her husband Jack returned here in 1977 when they retired. Ultimately, they moved into the original William Mendosa home east of the highway on Little Lake. Jeanette became a pillar of the Study Club and the Mendocino Community Library, which was started by the Study Club in 1947.
In 1987, when the library needed to find a new space, Jeanette and Jack offered a small house on the corner of Williams and Little Lake. This building had achieved some notoriety as a “brothel” in the 1954 film, “East of Eden,” but more recently had housed the single women school teachers in Mendocino. It was arranged that a newly formed library nonprofit could purchase it by paying the Hansens monthly interest only on the existing note. The Study Club paid the closing costs, legal fees, and most of the remodeling expenses and, on May 7, 1988, the library opened in its permanent home.
The library has continued to benefit from Jeanette’s support and generosity through the years, and, as if that weren’t enough, received a bequest from her estate when she died. When Randy Mendosa dropped off her jigsaws, he pointed out the notes Jeanette kept on the bottom of each puzzle box so she wouldn’t forget when she did them. We won’t forget what she did for us.
We won’t forget Chatter Bishoff either, though we don’t have any of her books or puzzles. A contemporary of Jeanette Hansen, she was born in Southern California, but moved here in 1972.
One friend of hers described her as “the Perle Mesta of Mendocino.” She fell in love with this community and made a habit of donating generously to nonprofit organizations she valued. She and her husband Jack supported many with their time and money, among them the Presbyterian Church, Rotary International, the Study Club and library, the Kelley House, and the Music Festival.
In 2004 the Bishoffs began an association with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County when they established a charitable trust to support 11 of their favorite nonprofits through annual grants for general operating costs. In 2016, after their deaths, their estate created the Jack and Chatter Bishoff Competitive Grants Program through the foundation to allow the organizations to apply for extra grants to support special projects and capital expenditure. These “rainy day” funds have helped the library replace the old furnace when it died a couple of winters ago and improve our disability access and parking. When the regular grants come in every year, it’s like bounty from heaven, which certainly must be where Chatter and Jack reside.
Speaking of the celestial realm, we can’t omit the newest voice in that choir, Dolly Parton, who told an interviewer in 2019 that she’d rather be remembered as “The Book Lady” than as “The Queen of Country Music.” Parton was an avid reader, and she wrote a number of books for children and adults, but it was her Imagination Library that won her the title she coveted. She launched the project in 1995 as a tribute to her father, who never learned to read, to distribute books to kids between the ages of one and five. Though she herself was raised without them, she believed that “all children should grow up in a home full of books.”
Initially, the program was focused on Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up, but it quickly expanded. By 2003, Imagination Library had sent its millionth book; at the time of her death, more than 300 million books had been gifted, according to the website (https://imaginationlibrary.com/). In California, the first state to provide a bilingual option, the program has sent nearly three million books to 160,000 children. In Mendocino County, the program is administered by First 5 Mendocino, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting families through the first five years of a child’s life. Sign up for books in English or Spanish by calling the First 5 office at 707 462-4453, or go to their website (https://first5mendocino.org/).
In 2021, Parton teamed up with James Patterson to write “Run, Rose, Run,” a thriller that follows a young singer-songwriter on the run from Texas who catches the eye of a retired country music matriarch in Nashville. We have the novel in our collection. We also have “The Little Engine That Could,” a favorite of Parton’s. At a time when federal grants and aid to all kinds of nonprofits have been cut, we think we can because of the generosity of people like Jeanette, Chatter, and Dolly.
Stop by the Mendocino Community Library and look over our whole collection of books, DVDs, and puzzles. We’re open Monday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm, and Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. Visit the web page (https://www.mendocinocommunitylibrary.org/) to learn more about becoming a member or to find any item in the collection.