For She Wren, on her retirement…
Sherry (She) Wren brought to the Wabash Center a unique set of skills that have grown and developed as the digital world around us has expanded and the way of doing business and being “connected” has radically changed. Ever friendly, unremittingly cheerful, willing to learn whatever is needed, and ready to push the luddites around her to new understandings of work and play, She has been an excellent staff person, communications coordinator, and friend.
Coordinator of Communications
She began working at the Wabash Center on May 1, 2003 as “Coordinator of Communications.” Having worked in firms in both Boston and San Francisco, and with an MA in Business Administration, She (as she insists on being called) brought a range of experience to a job that was primarily the first face of the Wabash Center. She is “unremittingly cheerful,” states her February 2004 job review, a fact to which all who have worked with her can attest. At the beginning, her job was to care for all the logistics of the lodging, travel, and correspondence with the Wabash Center workshop participants, but that job soon grew and changed as the Wabash Center database behind those contacts developed and our ways of communicating became more digital.
After people, She’s second love is computers and technology. As the world-wide-web and the Mac-world of devices grew over the years, She’s knowledge of all things technical and app-related expanded exponentially. That is, it expanded within the world of Apple. I believe that for a time, She put up a sign indicating that PC’s were banned from the Wabash Center; a sign that she soon took down as she interacted with Center participants who unwittingly brought their PC laptops to the sessions.
Connecting Us With Each Other
By 2006, She’s job had gravitated to full-time computer and database work, and the title “Communications Coordinator” meant working on the database, doing web-work for the website, being our first line of defense when a computer problem developed, and caring for the communications between staff members. With the first website in 2006, the office still talked of the website “being done,” even though She was already warning us that “we need to think of the website as a living entity which is constantly changing.” Her predictions about the website proved to be true, as did her ability to see future possibilities in embracing and using social media, a future that many of us took much longer to see and embrace.
Besides her work to connect us technologically, She’s disposition was always to connect us personally at the office. She kept an eye on the parking lot in the back of the building to let people know if there are spots available; asked everyone about for news about their spouse, kids, and grandkids; and made sure that our pets are cared for when we travel.
May her years ahead in retirement bring her joy, with many miles of happy driving (in her RV) ahead!