When the September blog schedule came out and I saw that my entry was slated to post on September 20, I knew I had no choice—I would want to write something about Kate. Because after 32 years, she’s retiring—and today is her last day at CHS.
But writing this post turned out to be more difficult than I originally anticipated!! For the past 18 years—pretty much my whole adult/working life—I’ve worked closely with Kate. She’s had such an impact on me, both personally and professionally. Trying to sum all of that up in one blog post—without getting too sappy, or too specific—was almost too much! So after multiple attempts, I decided to make a “top ten list” of some of my favorite things that I’ve learned from working with Kate—and this is by no means everything!
10. This is not your home, your colleagues may need to find something in your office, so don’t keep anything in your desk you’d be embarrassed for them to find.
9. Don’t forget to tell your colleagues where you’ve stashed work-related stuff—in case you get hit by a bus!
8. No detail is too small.
7. And small things are cool!
6. Keep your work area and files in order—you never know when you’ll be asked to re-find something you first found 5 years ago…
5. Use bold colors!!
4. Don’t ask someone to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.
3. Get opinions from lots of different people OR you can never have too many people proofread something that will go public!
2. Incorporate humor (this one goes for both work and life!)
1. And the top thing I’ve learned is—the work we do here at CHS is fun, interesting, and important!
And since I don’t have the words to express my thanks and appreciation for all that Kate has done, I’ll let the cake do the talking!
Andrea Rapacz is the Head of Interpretive Projects at the Connecticut Historical Society
inside the CHS 
Nice job, Andrea. Steve N.