Arrivederci, Fynnette

Yesterday, I was honored to be a part of a retirement party for a good friend and colleague, Fynnette Eaton, who retired from the National Archives after a long and storied career. I hope to have more details from the party here soon, so you too can feel like you were there.

I also wanted to share with all of you some excerpts of my remarks from yesterday:

Once word leaked out about Fynnette’s retirement and the profession learned that she was trying to get away unnoticed, people sent me stories to share about her. Granted, I did ask for the stories, but that’s not the point. I want to share with you some anecdotes that were sent to me. As you may have heard, Fynnette doesn’t like being the center of attention . . .

One of my favorite stories I received comes from Tom Soapes, the Acting Director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Those of us who know Fynnette will note that
we very rarely see her in the cafeteria; she often eats her lunch at her desk, though it is more likely to see her darting about the halls, rushing from one meeting to another. Evidently, this was not always the case. She used to make the most of her lunch hour. Tom writes, “She returned from lunch a little later than usual and seemed, for her, rather quiet. When asked what she had done over lunch, she replied, ‘I had a root canal.’ On another occasion, when asked the same question, she replied, ‘I got married . . .’"

Lauren Brown, who works nearby at the University of Maryland, offered this story: In 1980, Lauren and Fynnette participated in the MARAC / Society of Southwest Archivists softball game at the SAA Meeting in Cincinnati. Lauren was pitching for SSA and the first MARAC batter hit a home run. He was immediately pulled from the mound and sent to the outfield for the rest of the game – and it was the only such game played between MARAC and the SSA. Consequently, his lifetime Earned Run Average in this series was – infinity! Lauren is very proud of this accomplishment and believes that he has Fynnette on the MARAC team to thank for this very arcane softball statistic . . .

On a personal note, as many of you may know, Fynnette is a lover of baseball. In fact, her husband, Jim Miller, wrote a book about it. Fynnette told me of listening to Orioles games on the radio in her kitchen growing up. As a lifelong Yankees fan, I liked her anyway. [I wished that I had included a remark about how fitting it was to have the party on the same day it was announced that Cal Ripken was going to the Hall of Fame] Fynnette and I cemented our friendship at baseball games as she often attended group outings that I have organized at several SAA meetings. In fact, she laments the fact that she was unable to attend the game JAL Tours attended in New Orleans (she sent her husband in her place) and missed me throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the game. So here, today, I give Fynnette that ball, with the hopes she will return soon to enjoy “America’s pastime” with all of us . . .

Next, I have here a letter from Richard Pearce-Moses, the past-president of SAA, who “always appreciated her passion and enthusiasm mixed with thoughtfulness and serious commitment to the issues facing the profession.” Richard continues, “She has been an outstanding mentor, helping many archivists make the transition from the analog to the digital era.” In fact, if we were to let everyone speak for whom Fynnette had been a mentor, we might never get out of here. Her “Working Together” workshop helped many of us, including Richard, learn to be more effective. Richard closes his letter with a personal note regarding Fynnette and a piece of advice offered on a warm day outside the Smithsonian Castle, where she was giving Richard a crash course in electronic records. They are words that have become a foundation for Richard’s career and in his own personal life and while he “can’t remember her exact words, but they were in essence, ‘Whatever we do, we may fail; but it we do nothing, failure is guaranteed.’" We would all be better were we to take those words to heart as Richard has . . .

A second letter comes from Luciana Duranti, also a former SAA President and current Director of the InterPARES Project, and I will add parenthetically, Fynnette’s husband’s current landlord. Luciana remarks, quite obviously, that Fynnette “is one of the most dedicated all around professionals” she has ever known. “In her quiet, understated way, she has provided key contributions to every aspect of our profession. Her commitment . . . is characterized by a remarkable intuitive capacity and sharp intellect as well as by a sunny unpretentious and warm personality that makes it such a joy to have her around and work with her.”