A tribute to Carole

Dear Docents,

There are few of us left who remember all of the contributions Carole Kramer made to the Natural History Museum and the Docents.  Even listing her accomplishments does not tell the full story.

I wrote the following after the successful National Docent Symposium that Carole brought to LA in 1995.  Perhaps it will give a little idea of all the work Carole put into this.  (Please forgive the poor rhymes and meter--I am not a poet).

                              CAROLE'S DREAM                               

Many and many a year ago, in a kingdom by the sea,

Queen Carole introduced us all to her dream of majesty.

"We should host a National Symposium in '95", said she,

"By being the first NHM to do this thing, we'd be making  history!" 

 

Now symposium means "drinking together"' so it sounded good to me.

 "It will be a lot of work", she cautioned.  (That's an understatement, thought we.)   

But she charmed us with her vision; she intrigued us with her quest,

She mesmerized and hypnotized until we all voted, "Yes!"

With the Director's blessing and ten thou for the seed,

Our Carole started planning, determined to succeed.

She gathered the Docents quickly and got them right to work.

She choose her co-chairs and committees, people who would never shirk:

        

Harriett, Charlotte, June and Cece; Connie, Helen, Babs and Henri;

Marion, Judy, Jeanne and the Jans; Peggy, Regina, Bev and the Anns;

Bob Rasmussen (how we miss his wit and his laugh); 

Isabel, our wonderful docent on staff; 

Shirley, Audrey, Marj and Roxanne; Lorraine, the Young and Bill, the Hermann.

"How many Docents will come," we asked,"Four hundred? Or maybe five?"

"Thing Big," Queen Carole replied, "Let's keep my dream alive!",

"With work we may draw even more! (Unless the economy takes  a dive!)"

Well, so it did, but hope we did keep, 'till worse plagues did arrive.

"Is our dream becoming a nightmare?" we asked, and our numbers did divide.

With riots and fires and earthquakes and floods, will even we survive?

But no disaster, even hotel exchange, gives a true Docent pause;

And with the symposium our Carole had arranged,

More than four hundred ignored these little flaws;

Our Los Angeles, with all of its faults, became the  wonderful land of "Ahhh's"!

The first "ahh's" were heard at the excellent dinner, provided by Sylvia T.;

The next at the fast registration arranged by Babs and Henri.

Docents "ahhed" over the notebooks, Harriett had expertly obtained.

They ahhed over the bags and the goodies, gathered by  Ann and  Lorraine.

They ahhed over the marketplace, created by Bev and Roxanne;

They ahhed over Minnie Mouse, who came from Disneyland.

They ahhed over the speakers and programs, Charlotte had procured for us;

They ahhed over the tours and museums and the comfort of each bus.

They ahhed over the delicious food, so thoughtfully furnished by June,

And over the herbal baskets, the decorations and every hand-made bloom.

They liked being welcomed by our hostesses and all our friendly volunteers;

They loved the great organization; the compliments still burn our ears.

Come to think of it, we never heard one little whine, 

And true to the meaning of symposium, there was plenty of donated wine!

Now the Symposium is over, we know it was worth all the fuss.

And we all want to thank you, Carole, for sharing your dream with us!

Docently,

Ann Cantrell

1995