Walter D. Waechter and Grace C. Fites Waechter Family Fund
The Walter D. Waechter and Grace C. Fites Waechter Family Fund was established in 2001 to provide support for the Akron Carnegie Library and to improve life in the Akron community.
Memorial/Honorary gifts in any amount can be made to the fund by calling The Fulton Co. Community Foundation in Rochester (1-574-224-3223) or by clicking on the following link: Walter and Grace Waechter Family Fund . What better way to pay tribute to someone you care about than by giving a gift that will grow over time and 
continue to give back to the community? Gifts given in you or your loved one’s name allows the library to benefit. Interest earnings from the fund are paid to the library on a semi-annual basis. To date this fund has provided the Akron Carnegie Library with over $3,000 dollars.
The library evolved from a collection of donated books housed in rooms over the present Fashionette Beauty Salon. A Methodist minister, Rev. M.E.Krauss, ask volunteers to go house-to-house to collect books and sign petitions to support the library through taxation. He then turned to acquiring a Carnegie grant. Read more about this here: Our Early History.
The late Walter D “Beany” Waechter was a lifetime Akron resident and 1921 graduate of Akron High School. He worked his way up from shoe shine boy and picking up laundry to barbering, as taught by his father, Cornelius (Nick) Waechter. In 1932, he was required to purchase his first barber license. Walter died in 1981 at the age of 76.
Grace C. Fites Waechter was a Gilead-area native. She graduated from Manchester College in 1929 with a B.A. in Education. Grace was a high school teacher licensed to teach mathematics, Latin and English. Grace taught for 34 years and her door was always open to her present and former students. In 1996, she was asked to become Akron’s grand marshal for its July 4th parade.
Explaining the newly-established fund, Grace said, “We chose the library because we see it as a beacon for education. My daughter Barbara and I both served on the library board. We will be interested in education as long as we live and we want to pass this idea along.” Grace died on September 19, 2007 at the age of 99. She would have been 100 years old on Oct. 8, 2007. The couple’s only daughter, Barbara became a teacher holding a B.S. and M.A degree. Barbara’s daughter, Christa has a B.S. degree and both contribute to the fund regularly for memorials, birth dates, anniversaries and deaths. Books and reading are an integral part of this family.
