LEOMINSTER — A display currently featured at the library showcases all things 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta courtesy of a longtime staff member who had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be there in person.
“I’ve loved it all my life,” Gary Kendall said of being a huge Olympics fan.
He has been a librarian at the Leominster Public Library for three decades, the same amount of time since he traveled south to attend the games. With the Winter Olympics this month he thought setting up a display at the library with mementos from his experience would be of interest to patrons and library historian Diane Sanabria agreed.
“She has set up a wonderful display of memorabilia from my trip to the Olympics,” Kendall said of the collection his coworker artfully arranged in the glass display case located by the West Street library entrance, which is in the historic Carnegie section of the building.
It’s perfect timing — the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics was officially kicked off last night with the opening ceremony — and the collection that includes ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, a limited-edition gold Coke bottle, a poster, several photos and a lot more will be on display the entire month of February.
Kendall basically handed over all the keepsakes he had from his Atlanta trip and Sanabria picked the pieces to include in the display she created.
“It was cool to see what she used,” said Kendall, adding that he is thrilled to share his Olympics experience.
Sanabria disclosed that Kendall told her to “pick what you want” for the display, which also includes an impressive pins collection he came home with.
“It was really fun to sift through the memories,” she said.
Sanabria specializes in local history and genealogy at the library and has worked there for 47 years, the first 40 of those with teens. She has set up a number of displays in collaboration with the Leominster Historical Society and Leominster Historical Commission, both of which she is a board member of.
She enjoys spotlighting things in the collection of both organizations and coming up is a display to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday, complete with handwritten diaries courtesy of the Historical Society.
It was Kendall’s first time in Atlanta. He was there for a week and stayed with friends who lived there, sometimes catching rides with a family who were mutual friends and often taking public transportation, which was free for ticket holders.
Kendall was tapped to write a series of newspaper stories for the Montachusett Telegram & Gazette about his time there and he also kept a detailed journal.
“It made me really aware of what of what was around me and made me more bold,” he said, sharing that he went up to former professional tennis player Mary Carrillo, who covered many Olympics games as a sportscaster included the 1996 ones, to chat and take a photo with her.
While he was riding the subway one day he noticed a woman wearing athlete credentials and went up to her and introduced himself. Turns out she was a field hockey Olympics team member from Pennsylvania, where Kendall went to school. When he asked the University of New Hampshire graduate what it was like being part of the Olympics and her biggest takeaway from it, she told him that “walking into the stadium was the biggest thrill.”
Kendall has always been a huge fan of tennis and played it in high school. He watched a match at the 1996 Olympics that included Andre Agassi, who won the men’s singles tennis gold medal for the United States. He also got tickets to watch badminton and was there when the flag was raised at the medal ceremony when the U.S. synchronized swimming team won gold.
“I still can’t believe I went,” he said. “The whole thing was unbelievable.”
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