"Get to know Penny"

Starting back about 2002 Mercer's Computer Science Dept. started having annual banquets to honor graduating seniors. All alumni were also invited to attend. That is the banquet I attended two weeks ago in Macon. In fact the CS Web Page still gives the details: All students and alumni in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Science, and Computational Science are invited to attend the end of year spring banquet to be held at 7:00 PM on Saturday, April 26th at the Woodruff House (located next to the Mercer Law School on Coleman Hill). The meal is free for all students and alumni. Recognition will be given to graduating seniors and UPE inductees. A great southern buffet menu is on tap including the following items. Southern Fried Chicken, Sliced Ham, Southern Style Green Beans, Garden Salad, Tomato, Onion, & Hot Pepper Tray, Corn on the Cob, Macaroni & Cheese, Rolls, and Banana Pudding. Friends & family are also invited to this event. We ask for $10 per guest. Hope to see you there! When I arrived at the banquet (late as usual), I noticed there weren't as many people as usual. It was quieter than usual. I also noticed the place wasn't set up. I started to wonder if I was early instead of late. I merged in with the group of alumni closest to my age range (Dave, Scott, Matt, Bobbie) to find out what was going on. I then found out that all the wonderful food discussed above was not there and was not coming. Apparently the catering had gotten screwed up. "If Penny was here she'd be pissed!" I said. "If Penny was here you know this would never happen" was the reply. This was greeted by a round of nods, because we all knew it was true. I first met Penny when she started at Mercer back in about 1992. It quickly became clear to me that Penny was important to know. She made things happen and she got things done. Sometimes she even made miracles happen. You need a pencil? a pen? paper? a floppy disk? a mint? chewing gum? three ping pong balls, a rubber band and a magic marker? Somehow Penny made it happen. I once saw a student ask Penny for help because the student missed a class. Somehow Penny was able to produce a photocopy of notes for the class. To this day I don't know how she did that. Penny taught me many valuable lessons over the years, but one of the best was that most people draw their organization charts upside down. They put the presidents, VPs, directors and deans at the top and secretaries and janitors down at the bottom. Those at the top feel they have the most important jobs. In reality if it wasn't for those "at the bottom" nothing would get done. Ever. I see it sort of like the tires on your car. Everyone takes them for granted. They mistreat them. They don't check the air pressure or the tread wear. They even kick them on occasion. Those "at the bottom" get no attention and no respect. Yet when they're not there, you're just stuck. When I was faculty at Mercer (a job I got in part due to Penny) I would always tell my students "Get to know Penny. She can get things done no one else can." If you ask me for something, I will forget. Penny never forgets. If you need me to do something for you, I'll screw it up. Penny doesn't screw up. And Penny enjoyed that part of her job. I remember one day I had a particularly complicated photocopy job. (Yes, there is such a thing!) I was in the copy room behind Penny cussing up a storm as I kept screwing it up. Eventually Penny walked in and took the papers from me. "You give these to me, and you go back to your office now." Five minutes later I had my copies, sorted, stapled, and perfect. Even after I left Mercer, Penny still got things done for me. I had been tyring to get a book for a class I was teaching. I tried to get the book from the school I worked for and making little progress. A week later, Penny handed me a brand new copy of the book. Penny made miracles seem easy. Penny did the impossible, effortlessly, every day. And she laughed, smiled, and joked the entire time. I would occasionally get forwarded emails from Penny. Not the stupid annoying ones that EVERYONE passes around the internet. Penny's were always thoughtful, wise, useful, interesting, and funny. Pretty much little electronic copies of Penny. I pray for Penny. I pray for Carol Ann. I pray for Penny's children Ricky and Amber. But I also pray for the Computer Science Department, and the students. I suspect the banquet was just a glimpse of the future without Penny. The Computer Science Department has lost a wheel. Which normally might not be that bad except I think, in this case, the department is a unicycle.