The Mary Winters "Colors of Colusa County" Memorial Mural

Project Statement

A community centered mural painted on the main branch of the Colusa County Free Library, in honor of local resident Mary Winters, celebrates the diverse and vibrant colors of our county, and reminds all that see it, that Reading Colors Your World. 

A committee, including the library director, mural artists Sierra Redding and Ross Roadruck, County Supervisor Denise Carter, Friends of the Library and Community Mural Project sponsors Jim and Cynthia White, and Mary Winters' sons Jeff and Jerry, selected the vivid color palette from photographs depicting local culture, life and environment of Colusa County, submitted by library patrons. 

The original photographs from which the colors were drawn are paired with a literary quote about California, and hang inside the library. 

Mary Winters

A resident in Colusa for more than seventy years, the Colusa community was truly Mary’s calling and it showed in her participation in civic, academic, and non-profit organizations. Some of Mary’s contributions included her two year term on the Colusa City Council, her dedication to the Friends of the Library, the Bookworm, and the Colusa County Free Library, the Colusa County Airport Commission and Airport Land Use, Colusa County Mental Health, Colusa Local Agency Formation Committee (LAFCo), her attendance at the Colusa Board of Supervisors Meetings, as well as countless other volunteer projects throughout her life in Colusa.

If you have checked out materials from any of the seven branch libraries added to our collection between 1980-2020, there is a 99% chance that they were processed by Mary. She dedicated every Tuesday afternoon to volunteering at the library, helping to get new materials ready for circulation. She was tireless, lovely and her absence continues to be felt by staff. 

Donated by the Friends of the Colusa County Free Library, the Colusa County Arts Council, Colusa Rotary and the Community Foundation of Colusa County, Mural Project.