“Upon receiving my Master of Art in Teaching, I spent four years teaching French to middle schoolers (or trying to teach them) at Indiana University’s lab school. During my second semester, I began to supervise student teachers.

 

The next 22 years were spent as a happy homemaker, providing TLC to my husband and two sons. The extra benefits including reading The Chronicles of Narnia summer after summer and joining my sons as they played in the sandbox or with LEGO® blocks, Matchbox® cars, or Tonka® trucks.

 

On my 49th birthday, after several years as a parent volunteer in the school libraries, I decided to go back to school to become a librarian, moving toward my Master of Library Science (M.L.S.) degree at the breakneck speed of one course per semester. During that time I continued to provide TLC to my three men and worked as a school library substitute and as a student reference assistant in the Center for Disability Information and Referral at Indiana University.

 

I received my M.L.S. in December 1993, and I began my association with Walden University in March 1994 as a part-time reference assistant. It was love at first sight, and I had found my niche. In November 1996, I was promoted to Walden University librarian, a month before the birth of my first grandchild.”

Rita, thank you for your unflagging energy, boundless curiosity, collegiality, and most able assistance to the Walden community of scholars. We will miss you.