I became the Associate Director here at the University of Missouri-Columbia on May 1, 1996. Before that I spent almost 14 very happy years (1982-1996) at the University of Oregon Library, first as Head, Catalog Dept. and then as AUL for Technical Services. My move to Columbia was motivated by a desire to return to the Midwest, where I grew up, and to be near my family.

My responsibilities here are very similar to those I had at UO-technical services and systems. The University of Missouri-Columbia library system is very similar to UO in size of collections and number of staff. There is a lot to do here, so I don't get bored. Sometimes I still call my former UO colleagues and make them listen to my work problems; I appreciate all the patient listening and good advice.

The most exciting thing to happen to the Library since I've been here was the tornado that hit on November 10, 1998. Besides destroying a lot of homes in Columbia(thankfully not mine), it damaged our off-campus book storage facility, tearing off most of the roof and large strips of the walls. Although I've lived most of my life in the Midwest, this was the first time I've ever seen tornado destruction in person. It was chilling. Fortunately, and miraculously, there were no serious personal injuries anywhere in the path of the storm, and our books were not damaged!

Most UO people are probably not familiar with Columbia. It's a well-kept secret here in the depths of the Midwest. Columbia is much smaller than Eugene, having only about 75,000 people. I really, really like living here. Columbia is a very attractive and prosperous little university city, with an excellent economy and a very strong sense of community. The cost of living is pretty reasonable. We are about two hours from St. Louis and from Kansas City so it isn't too difficult to sample big-city shopping and culture if one wants to do so. We have real seasons-summers are horrible, autumns are glorious. No matter what the time of year, if more than a couple of days pass without sunshine, people complain. After 14 years in Eugene, I have to laugh. I tried to think of one word to describe how Columbia is different from Eugene. I think I'll go with "calmer."

On the personal front, many of you know that my husband died in July 1997. Since then I've been working on creating a new kind of life. This will be a work in progress for some time. I have a fairly large house, and a tree filled yard; I am slowly getting a handle on what it takes to maintain it all. Toby and Boomer, my two ragdoll cats (that's an actual breed, for you non-cat people), live with me and pretty much run things to their own satisfaction. My son just got out of the Navy and has settled in Eugene. This is a bonus for me, as I now have an excuse to visit Oregon a couple of times each year.

The UO Library staff is still tops, as far as I'm concerned! I always like hearing what is going on, and how you all are doing. Please email me at allenaj@missouri.edu and say hello.

Alice J. Allen
Associate Director
University of Missouri
-Columbia Libraries
52 Ellis Library-MU
Columbia, MO 65201-5149

phone: (573) 882-1685
fax: (573) 884-5243
allenaj@missouri.edu

December 1999

Rick Gates' profile was originally received via the Public Bulletin Board, which he was undoubtedly perusing for bargains.....

Well, table saws and trampolines, soups and Geo Metros... guess this BB is eclectic enough for me to throw in my two drachmas...

This is your former systems wonk and LSA t-shirt sales champion signing in. I'm spending this weekend porting all my email from Eudora to Outlook (yes, I've yielded to the godless heathens in Redmond), when I suddenly discovered an email message lying over in the corner of my hard drive, covered with dust and half obscured by spam.

So, I picked it up and dusted it off when lo and behold... it's a message from my old boss, Lisa Sieracki, telling me about this LSA forum and inviting me to share my life story.

Since I'm ordinarily quite shy I was a little reluctant to post anything, but since I also obey all commands from superiors without argument, I decided to jump right in.

Carolyn (my much better half), and I have spent the last 4 years in beautiful Cornelius, OR. What? Never heard of this burgeoning metropolis? It's easy to find... simply drive due west from Hillsboro until you get to Forest Grove and then turn around and say "Wasn't there a town back there somewhere?"

The important thing is that we're in Oregon, our state of choice. Our next move, as promised will be to the Eugene area, so consider yourselves duly warned.

We're both working for our tiny company, Net Assets, doing training, consulting and Web development. I've also inflicted myself on the poor students at the library school at Arizona over the past 3 years. No, I don't commute... teaching in my bathrobe is so much more fun!

I now have a mother in Brookings (same mother, new town), so you may see us stopping for some Carte Blanche soup (thanks for the tip, Lonni) en route.

Shirien, I have a table saw, but its operation requires an in-depth education in the use of duct tape and Vise Grips, and works best when it's not raining so I think I'll keep it safely under lock and key.

Anyway, it's good to see some familiar names (and remember, I have videos to go with each of them... D'oh!)

Ciao for now!

P.S. What *do* you guys do in systems all day long anyway?

Date: Fri, 05 Apr 2002 09:11:45 -0500
From: Virginia Parr
To: Shirien Chappell
Subject: Re: Greetings from the past

Shirien: What a wonderful surprise. I'm so pleased to hear from you. But, how did the news get to UO that I'm retiring in June? Yes, June 7--age 65 and 20 years here at UC.

I still have and occasionally look at that wonderful photo album you put together for me when I left UO. That was the absolutely nicest thing you could have done.

I, too, am remarried. Married a '59 Oberlin classmate in November of 1993 in Boston. We had a commuting romance and marriage for a while. Then I took a year's sabbatical and spent it in Boston. During that year, Larry's business partner (they were business management consultants) died, so Larry closed the business and moved back to Cincinnati when I returned here that June. He was a gypsy scholar for a couple years teaching business and finance at various colleges and universities in the area, but then he essentially retired about 1997, doing a few consulting jobs on the side.

I have four grandchildren now: a five year old granddaughter who lives here in Cincinnati, twin granddaughters in Portland, and an eight month old granddaughter in Chicago. We went to Chicago about two weeks ago to see the one, and I'm leaving for Portland tomorrow to see the twins.

I've been doing a lot of traveling the past four years, some by myself, some with my husband: China, South America--Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Sicily, Egypt, Jordan, Thailand, Cambodia, Viet-Nam. In August we go to Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, and Scandanavian. I'm hoping to do a lot of traveling the next few years once I'm free of "asking" for vacation time. Both my son and oldest daughter would like to see Grandma Ginny become a permanent babysitter, but I'm not so sure about that--and I'm certainly not jumping into it. What are you doing at UO now? Still in the library system? Still circulation? I noted in my professional journals that George Shipman retired a couple years ago. It's been interesting reading in the alumni magazine about all the changes to the now Knight Library. Certainly appears to be a lot nicer (physically at least) place that 20-30 years ago.

Have also noted the deaths of several people I knew: Heard about Holly Jones, read about Perry Morrison, Ed Soule, Gene Barnes. Who else I wonder. I hear from Jodie McCoy about once a year. If you see anyone I knew, please say "Hello," to them for me.

Delightful, absolutely wonderful, to hear from you. So glad for you that your life is moving along happily now. I'll keep in touch. Will have a new email address (don't know what yet) after the first of June.

Fondly, Virginia

Virginia.Parr@uc.edu
513-556-1993

April 2, 2002