Library Director Goes Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

While his wife was attending classes, Larry Ostrowski would turn on the radio to his favorite station and start painting every pain-staking detail on his collection of American Civil War miniatures.

For Ostrowski, it was a hobby that started when he was younger, and that he would return to throughout his life whenever his passion of history was reignited.

“Most boys my age had their model planes or cars,” he said. “I chose my historical models and began to collect and paint them as other would their model planes.”

Now, as Director of the White Lake Library, Ostrowski is using his Civil War miniatures and passion for history to spark interest in young people at the Library and various functions, like the Fisk Farm Festival, throughout White Lake.

At the Fisk Farm Festival, Ostrowski’s figures were put on display in amazing fashion. The inside of the Cobbleston Home was transformed into a battlefield.

Ostrowski created a historically accurate display of the Civil War battle of Bull Run.

"The display was fantastic and was aimed at getting kids interested in history,” Ostrowksi said. “We actually had two kids who were really interested. I'm going to try and start a junior history group."

Ostrowksi said he plans to eventually put the display in the library and use it as an educational tool to teach kids about not only the Civil Way, but about the importance of learning about American History.

In addition to the Civil War miniatures, Ostrowski is using his hobby as a way to raise money for the library at a time when library funding is hard to come by.

Ostrowski has been painting miniature sports teams and auctioning them off at the library. All proceeds from these auctions go back to the library to fund programs and help improve library events.

In addition to running the library, he's a member of the Huron Valley Optimist Club, Vice-President of the White Lake Historical Society and now a paid on-call firefighter with the White Lake Police Department.

Ostrowksi said volunteering and giving back to the community is something he and his wife have always done.

"We couldn't have kids, so we decided to get involved and try to do as much for our community as we could," he said.

As a library director, Ostrowski has traveled all over towns throughout Ohio and now resides in White Lake. He said White Lake is the most welcome he's felt.

"In some of the towns if you were new you didn't belong, so it was hard to get involved because people weren't as open and welcoming," He said. "White Lake was the opposite. From the moment we moved here we felt welcome and we found it very easy to get involved in the Optimist Club and our local church. Everyone was so welcoming and warm, it was fantastic."

In the last few years, Ostrowski has transformed the library into something amazing. According to the White Lake Library website, the library has seen record usage the last two years. In addition, it's undergone a makeover that included new carpet, paint and a rearranging of the adult and children's sections.

All of this is possible, in part, because of Ostrowksi and his work.

When the library was attempting to get a millage passed in 2010 to help with operating expenses, Ostrowski campaigned and even dressed in costume as “Laptop Larry” and stood along M-59 holding signs urging people to vote yes.

Most recently, Ostrowksi has surprised many by becoming a paid on-call firefighter with the White Lake Police Department.

He was sworn-in in October.

"I was just looking for more ways to get involved and saw the fire department was looking to add some additional fire fighters," Ostrowski said. "It's great to be a part of White Lake. These firefighters give up a lot to protect us and put in a lot of time, it's something I wanted to be a part of. It's a great place to be."