Making Little Memorials

The boss was a great enthusiast of the new.  He loved a fresh coat of paint.  He loved hanging out and watching the lines in the Tech Center on "new release" days.  "Innovation" was on his list of favorite words.  He was, I suspect, the prime mover in getting us an Espresso  Book Machine.  (Though, to claim my due, I'm the one who named it Homer, after Homer Price and his donut machine, rather than the the greatest Greek poet.)  Anyway, it seemed entirely appropriate then to use the EBM to pay a small tribute to Bryan Pearce, so we did.

Some people asked me to print them copies of the piece I'd written when I learned of Bryan's death, so I did.  The unfortunate thing about printing things from this blog is that the formatting doesn't lend itself to the page.  That gave me the idea of making it a little EBM book instead.  I went to the extraordinary Anna Micklin, who operates the machine and runs our design and publishing.  She got it immediately.  Then, I went to see Lester Groom who produces our in-store news-letter, and among other things, takes so many wonderful pictures at store events.  He gave Anna a disc, and she made the handsome object pictured here.

(When I tried to pay for the cost of making this thing, Mark Mouser, my Department boss, wouldn't let me.  He did it, I'm pretty sure, being that kind of guy himself.)

I was glad to see Bryan's wife in the store last week, and glad of the opportunity to thank her for the memorial service.  I was glad as well to finally be able to give her copies of our little memorial book, produced entirely by University Book Store staff, on Bryan's Espresso Book Machine.  She accepted a copy for herself, and one for each of their girls.

I hope it will make them smile.  I'm pretty sure it would have made Bryan smile -- but then, he smiled all the time.