ALWAYS
Museums, Motorcycles and Dogs...what's not to like?
I remember the first time I met Ann. It was at a NPS ANCS+ training in Kemmerer, WY back in FY95. Boy... the stories she could tell about that quirky little town, but that's a whole other story - ha! Well...I'd just adopted a Blue Heeler puppy from the pound, and brought him with me to the hotel (w/ permission). But, I'd had to lock him in the bathroom, since he'd eaten a good part of pillow and most of one pillowcase sometime while I was in class on day 2. Luckily, Ann who loved animals; gave me some great training advice on the "nature" of this particular breed, which she kindly referred to as "UT truck dogs", as well as, a clicker she had used to train one of her dogs. It was just like her... ALWAYS ready to help, share information and give to others. Over the years we worked together on numerous museum issues both at Dinosaur NP where she worked and throughout the region. She was always a consummate professional. She helped on so many levels, generally by volunteering, when others avoided or just accepted the situation. Often she took on the "dirty jobs" like joining with others curators to rewrite mind-numbing criteria to help the parks get more funding for their museum and archival resources; participating in the detailed review and comment of the regional and servicewide museum collection storage plans, and always searching for ways to balance the increasing WASO reporting requirements in the face of less staff, lack of funding, and little to no travel or professional training opportunities.
She was always smart, funny and cheerful. She always really believed that by facilitating data, people with skills, and information that she could ensure that parks, region and the centers (WACC/MWAC) had the information required to “do the job right” whatever it was. She always believed she could make a difference. And she always did. Her training and experience in both natural history and cultural resources, and later extensive archives management, made her a “resource” for the rest of us.
Years later, when I was forced by CORE to take a new job outside the Curation Program or move from Denver, I was always sorry, that Ann’s position at DINO next to be evaluated for elimination. And it was. When she got the news, she called me and we discussed her options. I shared my experiences, frustrations and complaints with her. But she never blamed, complained or gave up hope. She always looked for new opportunities, even when she got mistreated by the NPS. It was her style. I was so happy when she got the offer to go to COLM NM and work with that park’s museum and archival collections as part of her duties. I got to talk with her just the week before her death while on-site at COLM as part of my new job. She was happy and excited by the item I recently donated to the park’s museum collection… once a curator, always a curator. She was going to take photos of it for inclusion in my trip report.
She will be missed. Always.
