[Oe List ...] For Marge at 85

[ANN SHAFER]

Marge, David and I were never assigned to the same locale where you were.
But for me you always were the image of the center of our Ecumenical
universe - an image of grace and accessibility. We were so young and dumb
and found some to be unapproachable but not you. So thank you for your
presence and kindness. Ann Stewart Shafer

 

From: oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net
[mailto:oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net] On Behalf Of Gordon Harper
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 3:34 AM
To: Order Ecumenical Community
Subject: [Oe List ...] For Marge at 85

 

Well --

In addition to the many good things people are being cajoled into saying
about you, Marge, one thing that strikes me is how much your life has been
at the center of making critical resources available to all of us.  We've
been on quite a technological journey--and it's one that you've helped us
take as a community.

In the late sixties, I remember we had the image of the briefcase library
and those precious few essential books we'd be able to pack in it and carry
with us to our next assignment.  Given my own considerable literary
holdings, I always found that a terrifying image of radical detachment.

In the seventies, you and Phil fomented a giant leap forward for us, based
on that portable microfiche reader and library of cards you created for it.
Now we had scores if not hundreds of our key documents, able to be read
(albeit dimly on those awful screens) with the twist of a dial on a
mechanism that could, like the briefcase library, be carried in one hand.  I
remember my envy of those who were able to pack one of those with them as we
left Chicago en route to our global postings.

But you didn't stop there.  In the early eighties, personal computers burst
upon the scene, and suddenly we found ourselves gifted with the Golden
Pathways CD.  You and your team produced an unbelievably rich compilation of
what we'd done over the previous twenty years--and there it was, all on a
slim and shiny disc, at our finger tips and the click of a mouse.  Another
quantum jump for all of us that you helped make happen.

Again, here you are, nearly thirty years after that, still at the heart of
our now vastly expanded archival collections in Chicago.  You're the one
likely to respond when any of us requests a copy of some item from those
rows of file cabinets.  Beyond that, you're at the center of a team using
the latest web and Internet tools to make those materials widely available
to future generations.  Talk about a sustained commitment!

So, thanks, Marge, in the midst of these technological revolutions, for all
the ways that you've drawn on them to contribute so much to our common life.


You also give the lie to that adage about old dogs.  Blessings, and a happy
85th --

Gordon and Roxana

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