By Diane Wagner, Class of 2005
Institutional memory—it’s what keeps organizations moving forward and prevents us from making the same mistakes over and over. And each time a docent resigns, a bit of CAC’s institutional memory is lost. It is the Docent Emeritus Status program that reminds us of the varied ways docents have contributed to the fabric and quality of our community.
In January, Docent Council approved Emeritus Status for two docents who made major contributions to the way we communicate with each other today: Norma Fay Green (1978) and Ron Tevonian (1999).
In addition to the standard docent responsibilities, Norma was the editor of the newsletter for five years. She describes the labor-intensive process: “I wrote, typed up, laid out (cut and pasted), took to printer, folded, labeled, stamped and took to post office in 1979. Crude as it was, it truly was a labor of love—.” Norma received several certificates of appreciation at the DAN events of those days. She also received an official Col. McCormick’s World’s Greatest Newsletter award! Norma suggests that CAC establish an archive that might be housed in one of Chicago’s excellent museums or universities. What a great idea—-who’s up for the task?
An active docent for 20 years, Ron Tevonian served as Docent Council vice-president and treasurer during four years as a council representative . And for 15 years, Ron headed the Communications Committee. In this capacity, he single-handedly moved CAC into the digital age, designing and managing the cafdocent.org website. The docent body, in those days, was a difficult client. Ever patient, Ron moved us, sometimes kicking and screaming, into the brave, new world of cyberspace.
These two pathfinders deserve recognition beyond Emeritus status. Let’s make sure to thank them whenever we cross paths. We wouldn’t be where we are today without their enormous contributions!
Congratulations to both of you wonderful docents! And thank you for all you’ve done. See you at DAN!
Thanks to both these emeriti who made enormous contributions. Delighted to see Norma’s suggestion to archive the Docent Newsletters. What about the Burnham & Ryerson Library?
Ron’s contributions were huge. I appreciated his help with coordinating performance reviews and devising a simple system for recording. We often said , “ what would we do if Ron is hit by a bus on his way to CAF ?” Fortunately, he never was.
Well deserved, my friend.
Congratulations to both of you on your special Docent status. Thanks for your many contributions to CAF/CAC. I well remember Ron’s being my certifier while I was a Baby Docent, encouraging me with technical corrections in his gentlemanly manner..
Well deserved recognition to 2 great people. All the docents definitely benefitted from your contributions over the years, thank you!
Both earned their stripes in critically important ways. Yes, the CAC (nee CAF) was indeed a “difficult client” as we migrated from pencil and paper to digital design. I count myself in my work with the Docent Performance Review Program as such a “client” as we tried to figure out how to set up a computerized review scheme. With his vast knowledge of the CAF’s programming, such as it was in those days, we always worried about his getting hit by the proverbial truck. Thanks to both of you!.