Comments on: A Letter to President Veazey, Community of Christ

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:59:18 +0000

Write a letter, Bryan, write a letter! I love your line: “He brought them by my table last summer on a trolley before I had even requested them!” That’s Ron, all right, by all accounts.

Thanks, John, and Brian. We share an appreciation.

By: Bryan Monte

Bryan Monte — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:42:25 +0000

I am saddened to hear of Ron Romig’s termination/forced redundancy. Ron is a truly gifted and dedicated archivist. He has tirelessly assisted me with locating books, reports and documents in the Community of Christ archives related to my research on Harvest Hills, a CofC intentional community founded in 1970. In fact many of Ron’s choices of research documents have been no less than “inspired” such as when he brought them by my table last summer on a trolley before I had even requested them! In addition, Ron has chaired two of my presentations at the Sunstone Conference in Salt Lake. I always found his comments to be insightful and constructive and they reflect his great love of church history. I will truly miss Ron at the CofC archives and I hope that the Community of Christ reconsiders keeping him in his present position.

By: John Hamer

John Hamer — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:13:49 +0000

On the question Bruce raises about the ethics of letting someone so near retirement go, I should point out that Ron is being asked to take an early retirement package, rather than simply being given his walking papers. However, working for a church, he’s never earned anywhere close to what he is worth, and so the retirement package will be insufficient for him to actually retire on without some supplementary salary.

By: John Hamer

John Hamer — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 23:10:15 +0000

Thanks much for this open letter, Ardis. I believe your point in comment #8, that without Ron the archives go mute, is sadly spot on.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:42:38 +0000

Everybody in this field seems to have a Ron Romig story similar to Maurine’s — he is a treasure to us all.

Thanks, Brian. I hope all letters sparked by awareness of this remain polite, and that they request, rather than demand, reconsideration. It can’t be easy for Pres. Veazey and his counselors to make the choices facing them.

You know, good librarians and archivists are more essential to repositories than catalogs, I think. Without someone who knows the way, and knows it better than the bare bones of a catalog, a library is just a pile of paper, with every visitor heading into uncharted territory. A catalog or finding aid can only go so far — it takes a human mind to recognize which sources are more reliable, more colorful, or tend to focus on this useful kind of detail rather than on that tedious other kind, or which sources have hidden treasures beyond the obvious ones that can be mentioned in a finding aid. When that hard-won knowledge is combined with the generosity of someone like Ron, there are no limits to what can be done. Without him, the archives go back to being piles of mute, disintegrating paper.

By: Brian Duffin

Brian Duffin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:24:40 +0000

What a terrible loss, Ardis!!

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’ll make sure this post gets a link in M*’s “Worth Reading” section and perhaps if I can dig out of my back-to-work mess, I will write Pres. V. an email, too.

By: Juvenile Instructor » In Support of Ron Romig–Please Read

Juvenile Instructor » In Support of Ron Romig–Please Read — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:09:25 +0000

[...] The news is spreading that on June 15, Ron Romig was informed that budget cuts would would necessitate the elimination of his job as archivist at the Community of Christ archives. A number of outlets have the complete story. Apparently as of the story’s writing Community of Christ President Steve Veazey had received 18 letters on Ron’s behalf asking them to reconsider. Ardis has posted her letter here. [...]

By: Maurine

Maurine — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:16:00 +0000

I also sent a letter to President Veazey and I agree with you, Ardis, that the President is unaware of the treasure he has in Ron. In an e-mail to me, Ron indicated that Mark Scherer would be taking on Ron’s job as archivist besides being the CofC Church Historian. I really like Mark, having served with him on the MHA council, but I know that he hasn’t the knowledge of Church history or of the holdings of their archives like Ron does.

My first association with Ron was similar to yours. I was at USU special collections back in the 1980s, talking to the archivist A.J. Simmonds. I wanted information that he couldn’t answer, so he gave me Ron Romig’s phone number at then RLDS archives. I had only just before that gotten over being scared of A.J., and the thought of calling the RLDS archives was frightening. Ron answered the phone himself and sent me immediately what I needed.

One time I was on a research trip to Nauvoo. Having a few hours to spend in Independence, I wrote to Ron telling him the records I wanted to research. When I got there, he had them sitting out ready for me. He told me which ones would benefit me the most for the time I had, and informed me that a couple of the records and been copied and were in the LDS Archives. I was totally impressed that he would take that kind of time to help me, a novice in Church history at the time. We have been friends ever since.

I hope that President Veazey will rethink letting Ron go. Ron dodged the bullet a few years ago because of the support of Church historians when he was in a similar situation. I hope he can again.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:43:10 +0000

If I am forced to find a real job again (so far my usual clients have remained generous and steady, thank heavens), I would face the too-close-to-retirement wall as well as the current economy. That is so frightening, and there is so little I can do to prepare for or remedy the problem, that I can’t let myself remember it very often. It doesn’t hurt to sympathize on that point — thanks.

By: Bruce Crow

Bruce Crow — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:50:45 +0000

Maybe I took it too far. But I was recently let go in a very similar manner. Budget cuts meant I and 200 of my coworkers across the county were let go. Out of my friends I have noticed those who are closer to retirement are still looking for work. I am fortunately early in my career and found new work after only a few weeks.

But you are right, if it was me it would have been someone else.