Thursday, June 12, 2014
Joan came into my life and the sphere of Katherine Anne Porter in Spring 1998, when she began volunteering as a docent in the Katherine Anne Porter Room, then in McKeldin Library at the University of Maryland. She continued to serve, after the Porter Room's move to Hornbake Library in 2001, until Spring 2007, when she relocated to Herndon to be closer to her daughter and family. I very much enjoyed our interactions over that nine-year period. We shared stories of our personal lives, and she often provided me with sound professional advice, as she had had a long and distinguished career with the CIA. I keenly missed seeing her frequenty after her move to Virginia. Shirley Bauer and I never managed to make a trip out to visit her, and I now regret that. Luckily her death notice in the Post caught my eye, as I am relieved to be able to pay my respects, even in this rather impersonal way. I regret that I will not be able to attend the memorial service on Sunday.
With sincere condolences,
Beth Alvarez, Curator of Literary Manuscripts Emerita, University of Maryland Libraries
