Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk, Sept 25, 2010 Fremont, CA
It's that time of year again. Time to prepare for the Fremont Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk. This year it will be on Sept 25, 2010. I am hoping to raise as much money as possible for the cause. I would love to have people walk with me this year, as well. It is at Lake Elizabeth. Please check out my fund raising page here:
Hannah's fund raising page

This past spring the college that my dad taught at had a memorial dedication for him. They designated an area of library to him with a plaque/statue in his honor. He really did a lot for the school and the library in particular. He was also a history professor there. The area they designated to him is the computer lab, which is fitting since he brought the library into the 21st century. Here are some photos from the dedication and what I said since I was asked to speak. That is my grandpa and my brother, Peter, in the photos with me.



Thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words about my father during this dedication of a very important addition to________ Library in honor of his contribution to________ Pacific University. As the Director of the Library and as a faculty member of _________ Pacific and___________ Seminary, it’s no surprise that my dad was a lover of learning from the day my grandparents bought him Golden Books at the supermarket in _______ City, Kansas. Years later it seemed to me he could learn anything he set his mind to. He seemed to know every back street in every city, town or mountain village he ever drove in or took the subway through. I was always amazed that he seemed to be able to find his way around any country in the world often driven by the need to find obscure and great libraries that held 16th-century books or archival records. He knew how to get to any museum, library or bookstore everywhere we went. And for my family there were many museums, libraries and bookstores to explore together. From the tiniest children’s bookstore in San Jose where he found Berenstein Bears books for me to the modern art museums of Paris where we learned to appreciate Picasso to the hippest bookstores in Berkeley where he pointed me to the Autobiography of Miles Davis to the largest libraries in Europe where his constant quest for knowledge inspired my own. Whether it was reading a bedtime story to my brothers or me, brushing up on his study of Martin Luther before a lecture the following week or scouring the San Francisco Chronicle for the latest news in Bay Area politics or maybe how the Giants were faring against the Dodgers, he was most likely to be found on a Sunday evening in his rocker enveloped in words.

When my dad first stepped foot on ______ Pacific soil he was a college student himself. A young man eager to learn about every subject imaginable from history to philosophy to literature and politics to psychology, music and art, he was ready to absorb everything college had to offer. Although he struggled at times and suffered disappointments on his journey, that appetite for learning never went away. He was shaped profoundly by all the places and people he encountered around the world-from _______ City, Kansas to Geneva, Switzerland-especially by those closest to him, who had nurtured his abilities since he was young; his family, his friends, mentors and colleagues. In turn he shaped many along the way, whether he knew it or not. Like any good father and teacher he felt a great responsibility to those who were sitting now in those same classes where he had once sat, some of whom were sitting in classes he was teaching.

As a student, my father knew almost every book in ________ Library’s card catalog. Later as head librarian he worked hard to expand the academic programs at Pacific by providing his faculty colleagues with a good collection. As director of the library at Pacific he was also committed to giving the students access to the best he could offer them. This included collaborating with a variety of people and going to great lengths to fill in gaps in the library's shelves. He made the most of the hodgepodge of donations the library received even if that meant driving to UC Berkeley himself to haul boxes of theology books back to Fresno or find a way to gain valuable materials mixed in with a collection of, apparently also, valuable Playboy magazines. Don’t worry; the latter did not end up on Pacific’s or our family shelves. It also meant taking risks by moving the library into the digital age. How could he avoid the Digital Revolution when he came home to my brothers and me in a heated battle to win our Prince of Persia computer game? Because my dad had so much respect for those who taught him he wanted to do the same for the next generation, adapting to the vast array of changes in how research is done and libraries operate.

Of course, my brothers and I were part of that next generation he was so dedicated to guiding and clearing a path for. When I used to come to the library as a little girl, everything seemed so large and incredible to me at my stature. Sitting in my dad’s office, his desk chair felt like a throne and those book carts he let the staff wheel me around the back room in looked to me just like the cars in the Richard Scarry books we read together. Our family was woven into the fabric of ______ Library when I was a child since we lived across the street. My neighborhood friends and I knew every nook and cranny of _________ campus from riding our bikes on every inch of it. My dad used to yell at us from running up and down the stairs to this mezzanine, saying we sounded like a herd of elephants. When the library roof leaked from the rain, the weekend turned into an adventure as my family ran over with buckets to catch the dripping water before it ruined anything. Although my dad was often busy writing his dissertation or his next lecture or working to computerize the library’s card catalog, he always had time to help me with my algebra, talk about the latest crisis with the boy of the moment or later helping me choose my career path in teaching history. We do stand on the shoulders of those who come before us, and I am lucky that I can stand on those same strong shoulders that I once sat on to see the world from the best point of view-my dad’s. Thank you again for letting me speak about my father, for all your hard work and contributions that made this dedication possible. I know my dad would be very pleased to see this student research center, busy and thriving with intellectual discovery.

There are more photos here: Dedication Photos

My dad with me soon after I was born