This article tries to do two things.
Our church’s sincere thanks for Lorraine’s career of over twenty years and her legacy, the second item is what matters so much to Lorraine. Our Diocese must ensure we have a strong and secure archives.
How cool is that for our way of paying tribute to Lorraine? Did any Anglican anywhere here in their early years collecting sports cards, old photos, or family records, have any feeling of the great value to preserve and to conserve public and other records? One question asked to Lorraine was: why archives? Lorraine said her childhood was full of church involvement. Her fondness for history became a passion to learn about ancient and then later Western Civilization. While enrolled in library courses Lorraine saw a delight in what archives did. The details to care for so many collected paper documents in accessible order, and the appeal to make retrieval systems was so innovative. That stuff was her moment to part from library studies and pursue archival courses.
Lorraine marvels at the incident where she follows the suggestion to meet a Cathedral member, the late Dr. Brian Cuthbertson. That event resulted in a position for Lorraine at our diocesan offices. With Dr. Cuthbertson’s skilled care and collaboration, the two took on the huge demands to put new order in our archives. Lorraine always liked the way the tasks could include her daughter, Sarah.
The programs and administration of our missions, our parishes, and our Cathedral and diocese apply different kinds of services to aim to be the best stewards of our share in the constant ministry of the Church of God. Our Anglican ministry is most visible in collegiate, cathedral, and parish acts of worship, or great meetings: synod, ordinations, convocations, and governmental services stand out. Behind the glitter and the show are the services that we perform every day to our congregations, like the work of our archives.
All kinds of national, provincial, municipal and institutional Archives Associations provide standards and procedural guidelines and generous financial resources to help with our archive budget.
Our interview gave Lorraine a great chance to stress that her work’s greatest pleasure was the spirit of collaboration – it really helped the operation! That collaboration surfaced in buckets with Hurricane Juan’s devastation.
I asked Peter Flemming if he might add a thought to this tribute. Peter wrote; “ Lorraine put the diocesan archives ‘on her shoulders’ in the aftermath of Hurricane Juan, providing guidance and hard work to secure its preservation. Lorraine was the ‘key driver’ for the purchase and installation of the shelving unit in the Archives.” Peter added “Thank you Lorraine”.
Lorraine sees her most contented and happy time in our diocesan family to be the move into the new facility. It brought everyone together and provided a really good feeling of a collaborative spirit.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant!
