$10,000 donation made to Pine Island Elementary library
Tonya Player, on behalf of Pine Island resident Donald Greilick, recently presented the librarian of Pine Island Elementary School with a check for $10,000. Greilick made the donation in his late wife’s name, Robley Greilick.
Robley Geddes Greilick was born in Fort Myers Nov. 12 1931. Her father owned a printing business on Main Street. Robley’s grandparents, Robley “Doc” Newton and Jane Newton, had followed her uncle, Jim Newton, to Fort Myers in the 1920s. The Newtons became friends with both the Thomas Edisons and the Henry Fords.
In the early 1960s, inspired by family friend Charles Lindbergh, Robley was determined to learn to fly. After becoming a pilot, she became one of the first female flight instructors in the state of Florida and received awards from both Piper and Cessna aircraft companies. In 1975 she was named instructor of the year for the Federal Aviation District of South Florida.
On June 30, 1979, Robley Geddes married fellow pilot Donald Greilick. Once they left flying professionally, they purchased a Cessna 172 for personal use. In April 1985, they took Jim Newton and Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Charles Lindbergh’s wife) on a flight.
Robley Greilick passed away April 17, 2014. Because of Robley’s passion for reading, her husband decided to make a $10,000 donation to the Pine Island Elementary School library.
“What this means to the school is more books, more books and more books,” school librarian Elana Newman said. “Last year I had to get rid of over 700 books because of their age. If I got rid of all the old books there wouldn’t be anything on the shelves. Now I can not only replace those books but expand on our inventory with books that are suggested by the students.
“This is a remarkable gift and I will start ordering books immediately.”