Employee Comings & Goings: Marietta Lawson Reflects on Six Decades at L&C
Director of Accounting Marietta Lawson BS ’79 grew up across the street from Lewis & Clark, and will retire at the end of this month after working nearly 30 years in the Office of Business and Finance. Here she reflects on her countless adventures on campus as it changed over the years.
A few months before my fifth birthday, my family drove onto the Lewis & Clark campus and met Glenn Gregg in front of the Manor House. This was the summer of 1961. Dad was to become the first full-time Chaplain of the college and we had just completed a long, circuitous trip from New Jersey to Oregon.
For the next few months we stayed in an apartment where the Forest dorms are now located, while our house was being built across the street from the campus. Next door to the new house was a girl named Nancy, who would get into plenty of mischief with me on campus in the following years.
Dad worked in the chapel, which was about the size of a double-wide where the library entrance is now. He later had an office on the second floor of the Manor House. Dad was a polio survivor and walked with crutches. He had to reach the second floor by lifting himself up (pulling down on the rope) in the dumb waiter, which is now an elevator. He officiated at Fred Wilson’s wedding on the back porch of the Manor House, the lawn below full of people. He also called the football games several times. He suggested a circular plan for the new chapel.
In the summer, my brothers and I walked down to the outdoor pool. It was a busy, fun place with faculty and staff and their kids in and out of the pool and bathhouse. This is one of my very fondest memories. We walked our dogs on campus, first Tinker, then Tera, then Jane. We got milkshakes in the Trail Room. There was a big Thanksgiving dinner in Stamm every year for faculty, staff and their families. One night, the gym burned down. It was where Zehntbauer is now, and I remember standing behind the Manor House, watching the flames and seeing the roof collapse. Behind us, now the Business Office, was the mailroom. The library was in Albany until Watzek opened in 1967. The cobblestone circle was a parking lot. There was a little house where Miller Humanities Center is now—a groundskeeper lived there.
When it snowed, Nancy and I got on her Yankee Clipper and sled down the hill from Gate #5 (then Huddleson Lane), all the way to the bridge over the ravine. We played pool on a table where the CAS Registrar’s Office is now. We slid down the long, curved stair railing outside of the Council Chamber. We climbed up the fire escape at the Manor House, got in through the window, and messed around in a little classroom that was on the top floor. We both learned to ride our bicycles on campus, with help from my brothers. I took piano lessons in the Evans practice rooms from an L&C student.
When I was in high school, a popular event on campus was the Sawdust Festival. The floor of Stamm was covered with sawdust, and artists and craftspeople set up booths to share and sell their work. This was several years before the Saturday Market. There was a summer theatre festival in a big tent on the then gravel Griswold parking lot. Students who worked for Campus Safety lived in a house where Howard Residence Hall is now, smoking dope according to rumor. I had a horse then and rode at Tryon Creek before it was a park. On the fourth of July, I walked her down to the Estate Gardens where it was quiet.
After high school, I almost made a break from Lewis & Clark, at University of Oregon and then Wm Paterson University. But I eventually transferred to L&C as a business major. I worked at the circulation desk at Watzek Library for about $2.50 an hour. My tax class was in the Dovecote, my art classes in a big old former greenhouse called Peebles. Most other classes were in the “temporary classroom building,” which had been there since the 1960s and stayed until John R. Howard Hall was built in 2005.
After graduation, I worked at a bank and then a law firm, got married, and had two kids. My parents still lived across the street from the campus so I spent plenty of time on Palatine Hill. When I was laid off from the law firm, guess who had an ad in the paper for a staff accountant position? I started working at Lewis & Clark in October 1993. The Business Office was furnished by a rummage sale at a local bank branch. HR was packed into the Manor House basement along with the Business Office. The graduate school was in the Albany Building, along with IT. The area between the Manor House and Zentbauer was a parking lot. The Rose Garden was full of beautiful blooming bushes. The Trail Room offered comfort food, hamburgers, patty melts, and self-serve soft ice cream.
When Monica Lewinsky’s alma mater became known, the campus was invaded by media vans and personalities. Students held a protest demanding that the media concentrate on more important things. The registrar changed Monica’s name in Colleague to Amelia Azalea to prevent anyone from looking her up.
The Signature Project was initiated in the mid-nineties. Watzek was renovated, Miller and Fields were built. The campus underwent a renovation including the stone porch behind the Business Office, the Glade, and the sidewalk on Palatine Hill Road. The Business Office moved into an old wood building near Evans for a summer while the Manor House was renovated.
A famous Japanese TV star was married on campus, an event we referred to as the secret wedding because of the efforts to prevent his fans from finding out. They came anyway.
We celebrated the Lewis & Clark Expedition’s bicentennial with the renovation of Albany, construction of JR Howard, and the creation of a collection of LC Expedition archives that traveled around the country.
The graduate school campus was purchased from the Sisters of St. Francis. The sisters used to walk down the street in their black habits when I was a kid and freak out my dog Tinker.
A group of students occupied the Manor House at the beginning of the Black Lives Matter movement. That freaked out the administration quite a bit.
My brother’s wedding was in the Flanagan Chapel. Memorial services for my father, mother, and husband were held here at Lewis & Clark. Throughout the years, I’ve walked eight dogs and a horse on this campus. My favorite place is the Estate Gardens. Seeing Mt. Hood from behind the Manor House still takes my breath away.
Several people have joined our community recently, some continuing employees have taken on new roles and responsibilities at Lewis & Clark, and a few said a fond farewell.
Lewis & Clark welcomes these employees into new positions or new roles:
Christopher Ballard, degree audit and transfer credit specialist, CAS Registrar’s Office; Joseph Bushman, head football coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Lisa Doran, associate director, International Student Services; Kyle Dreibelbis-Schmidt, assistant track and field coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Caleb Eldridge, administrative assistant IV, Theatre; Marielle Evangelista Filler, staff mental health counselor/psychologist, Counseling Center; Daniel Fields, assistant football coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Lori Friedman, vice president, Communications; Justin Gallen, logistics manager, College Outdoors; Julie Hester; director of administration and operations, National Crime Victim Law Institute; Kenneth Kinney, assistant track and field coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Jordan Latt, student employment coordinator, Human Resources; Kelly Marx, registrar scheduling and academic records specialist, CAS Registrar’s Office; Verlie Nelson, assistant director, Conferences and Events; Madison Reynolds, administrative assistant II, Small Business Legal Clinic; Adam Riddle, assistant track and field coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Tracy Robinette, administrative assistant IV, International Affairs; Jessica Sweeney, research administrator, Sponsored Research; Lauren Timzen, developer/analyst, Information Technology; Robert Vance, assistant baseball coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Jay Weitman, director, Campus Safety; and Miranda Wood, data and accreditation analyst, Research and Assessment Office.
Lewis & Clark wishes these employees good luck on their next adventure:
Jeffrey Becker, Cooley House property manager, Facilities Services; Jemma Burkett, student account specialist, Student/Departmental Account Services; Chelsea Bushnell, administrative assistant IV, Theatre; Aaron Campbell, head track and field coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Britt Eckerstrom, assistant soccer coach, Laura Everard, groundskeeper, Facilities Services; Rachel Greben, contract administrative specialist, GSEC Finance and Operations; Drew Groshong, assistant golf coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Bradley Johnson, head men’s and women’s golf coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Kevin Kimball, Assistant Baseball Coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Christine Liu, senior development officer, Advancement; Bianca Martin, assistant cross country/distance coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Joshua Medina, staff attorney and pro bono coordinator, National Crime Victim Law Institute; Julia Quist, assistant women’s lacrosse coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Jeffrey Randall, assistant coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Juliette Resendez, graduate admissions counselor, GSEC Admissions Office; Beth Shade, assistant women’s lacrosse coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Forrest Sherman, pass defense coordinator and defensive back coach, Physical Education and Athletics; Henry van Vuuren, events A/V coordinator, Facilities Services; Hans Woicke, mental health counselor, Counseling Center; and Bryce Wynn, groundskeeper, Facilities Services.
This list of employees is provided by the Office of Human Resources, and published quarterly in The Source. Please direct inquiries to hr@lclark.edu.
