|
Clara and Hal have continued to reside in Millard even
though they are often on Interstate 80 back to Ames to attend Cyclone football and
basketball games. They never did shift their athletic allegiances to UNO or the Cornhuskers in Lincoln.
Clara also continued to work as a librarian for the Millard
high schools except for a hiatus to become an administrator with Hal's
computer consulting business, Multi-Option Systems,
Inc.
In recent years, Clara returned to the Millard schools as a
high school curriculum coordinator. She earned a master's degree in
English from UNO and took special interest in the life and writings of
Nebraska-raised author, Willa Cather. Clara's doctoral dissertation
is a qualitative study describing how and why high school foreign language
teachers use technology in instruction.
Clara has been active for a number of years on a committee
for the American Library Association, and she and Hal have often based their
vacation plans around attending ALA conventions in large cities across the
country.
Clara and Hal also used to play lots of duplicate bridge.
Not so anymore. They do like to spend a couple of weeks each summer at the family
cottage at Okoboji where they hole up with several grocery bags full of
books and spend much of their time reading. Clara also walks daily.
As a child, Clara had both the responsibilities and
privileges of being the oldest child. She has good-naturedly weathered the
weight of that role and learned well to be supportive of her parents,
siblings, nieces and nephews.
Clara has been loyal to Rolfe High School and several years
ago compiled a booklet about her class. And in recent years, she was one of the
main persons the RHS alumni web site editor turned to for help in
proof-reading essays for the site and a subsequent book.
We're sure that if Clara sees this piece, she will have
suggestions to make. Not only is she good at catching typos and grammatical
errors, she also is an A-1 reference librarian and has often helped us nail
down information. And she gives her suggestions in an affirming way.
So yes, we will modify this piece and incorporate
suggestions that Clara sends us. And we know that this quickly thrown
together review of Clara's life would never meet the muster of a doctoral
committee. But then again, it is Clara who is getting the degree and who
earned the award. The sibling writing this report has always been
restless in academic settings and has sworn off ever getting another
degree. That's the neat thing about some siblings. They can have different
propensities and still love and respect each other.
Congratulations, Clara.
|
