General Article
November 4, 2004
A ‘legendary’ administrator says goodbye
COMPASS veteran Jeanne Aston retires after 20 years at center
COMPASS administrator Jeanne Aston will not be resting her helpful hands as she retires from two decades of service to the PHS Division.
Photo by Todd McNaught |
The first thing you notice when you enter Jeanne Aston’s office in the Public Health Sciences building is a long line of small stuffed animals — seasonal bears from Starbuck’s — staring at you from a metal shelf over her desk. They are not the display of a collector but a tribute to the portion of Aston’s career at Fred Hutchinson spent in the Comprehensive Center for the Advancement of Scientific Strategies (COMPASS) program: gifts from her boss, COMPASS Manager Cim Edelstein.
In turn, Aston’s gifts to the center have been numerous: 20 years doing various administrative jobs with loyalty, selflessness, competence and enthusiasm. And, she’s been a good friend to her colleagues, who will miss her when she retires this December.
“Jeanne has always been more of a ‘friend helping out at work’ than an ‘employee’,” said Dr. Gary Goodman, a clinical oncologist and Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET) Study principal investigator who Jeanne supports.
“Jeanne is of the highest integrity and the most ethical person I know,” said Edelstein. “She is also incredibly well rounded. She can talk about almost anything.”
Indeed, finding balance in her life has been important to Aston, who turned 70 last August. With typical humor, Aston quickly adds with a smile, “Seventy. That’s such a hard thing to say. Well, not a hard thing but a scary thing. When I turned 60 I didn’t think about it. Now I think, ‘I am 70. I am 70 years old.’ Many people say that’s the beginning of middle age now.”
It certainly appears that way for Aston from both work and personal perspectives. Trained as an occupational therapist at the University of Puget Sound, she followed that path for a time and then went to work for a small publishing house. In 1984, at age 50, Aston joined the center in the Clinical Research Division. “I came here because I wanted to work for a large organization and in the medical field,” she said.
At that time the center was on First Hill and the Lake Union campus was still on the drawing board. Some remembrances Aston has of those years include holiday gatherings where the entire staff could fit inside one small hall; Dr. E. Donnall Thomas’s Nobel prize (“I got to cover his phones during his press conference”) and the patients she greeted in the Clinical Administration offices. “I remember being aware of them coming from all around the world,” she said. “These extremely ill patients appreciated and believed in the work we were doing. It’s interesting to think about them.”
Much to the delight of her COMPASS colleagues, Aston is known for sharing her personal interests as well as her work recollections. She’s a musician (first the mandolin, then ukulele, bowed psaltery and now the Autoharp); a fan of the Mariners, especially of Edgar Martinez; and a cat lover.
When she joined PHS in 1990, Aston worked primarily on the CARET Study, which was designed to study the effects of vitamin A and beta-carotene on lung cancer. Her current tasks at COMPASS include payroll, general administrative support and her favorite — preparing manuscripts for submission to journals. “I enjoy the Medline searches,” she said.
COMPASS provides scientists with the logistical, statistical and technical support to carry out research and is one of several coordinating centers within the PHS Division.
“Jeanne’s ability to conduct literature searches and organize manuscripts, grants, and references is legendary,” said Goodman. “Jeanne has been a loyal and reliable part of our group. She is always ready to take on any project no matter how impossible that seems. Knowing the polyglot nature of my handwritten drafts and edits is usually a formidable task. In fact when I can’t read something I have written, I usually ask Jeanne.”
Pursuing other passions
What’s remarkable is that Aston does all of this with hands and other joints that have been arthritic for 20 years. She doesn’t complain but adapts. Hence the choice of the Autoharp as a way to keep music, one of her passions, in her life. Aston shakes her head when she mentions that her doctor recommended knee replacements. “All of my joints are still original,” she proudly announces.
COMPASS won’t soon forget this legend who follows her favorite Mariner into retirement on Dec. 3. “It’s time to do other stuff,” said Aston. The list already is in her head: possibly moving into a retirement community in the Seattle area, taking cartooning classes, pursuing photography and rug hooking and swimming for her arthritis. At the top of the list is music. “I’d love to be part of a little group that plays regularly, but I have yet to find one.”
“I’m not sure how we will function without her,” said Goodman. “She will be sorely missed not only for her research skills but her friendly, cooperative and helpful demeanor.”
