One of our earliest Volunteers

Meet Glenna, one of our longest serving volunteers.

I’m a graphic designer.  Most of my years in the trade have been in publication design and production, and when the field converted to computer graphics I primarily worked in Illustrator and Pagemaker, with occasional very uncomfortable forays into Photoshop (no layers, for cryin’ out loud!.).
The company for which I work publishes 6 quarterly tourist guides that include maps, advertising and a smattering of editorial material.  When I joined the staff in 1998 Photoshop was seldom used, and when it was, everyone in the art department was inexperienced and tentative.
Hence, we attended some of the first Photoshop seminars organized by Scott Kelby and associates.  I remember not understanding half of what was discussed in the classes.  Black point compensation?  Histograms?  Color spaces? What in the world…????  PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH!
As our publications became more sophisticated, it was evident that increasing Photoshop work was in my future.  I joined NAPP, went to every seminar I could and bought any how-to book I was able to find.
But I didn’t have enough regular Photoshop work to focus my interest and energy on becoming a “guru.”  I’m also not adept at “playing” with software unless I feel I’m accomplishing something.
In the last 12 years or so I’ve restored a few photos for friends and family.  Not only did I love being able to bring back history, but observing the joy of the people who received the finished piece was rewarding beyond words.
Since I live in central Florida (St. Petersburg), I’ve spent inordinate time prepping for and sitting through the outer bands of hurricanes (our coastal location seems to discourage direct hits – at least in the 40 years I’ve lived here).  One of my main fears has always been “what if I lose my photos?”
As I was perusing the NAPP web site in June 2006, I found a very small notice about the inception of OPR and its need for restorers.  When I discovered that the purpose of the organization was to salvage photos damaged by Hurricane Katrina, I immediately contacted the group and joined.  I consider myself one of OPR’s “charter members.”
There is no describing the rewards of my OPR membership.  Since I work full-time and only like doing the most difficult restorations, I haven’t been as prolific as many of our members, but every restoration has been a treasure to me.  The people in the photos become family, and returning a completed restoration is the most wonderful feeling in the world.
I was fortunate enough to be on the Biloxi copy run in August of last year, and that trip reinforced for me the value of what we do. The first day one of our early “customers” was a lovely elderly lady with a huge bag containing only one large framed photo.  She told me that she doubted we could help her, but she decided it was worth the trip to find out for sure.  I pulled the treasure out of the bag and discovered a beautiful portrait of her children, which she told me was the only one she had left.  She believed it was so damaged that we probably couldn’t “fix” it.  I was delighted to tell her that the few stains could be easily repaired and she’d have a perfect copy as soon as we could get it to her.  She burst into tears; I burst into tears; and that pretty much set the tone for the three days of our stay.
I wish that all OPR-sters could have experienced the love and gratitude of the people who brought us photos and the blessings they invoked for all of us (not just the copy crew, but those of you who work on the restorations).  Many were incredulous that we would expend so much effort for people we don’t know, for free; and when they discovered that our membership spanned the world they were astounded and delighted.
Somewhere among all the threads on the forum is the “Biloxi Beacon” in which I volunteered to be the trip’s historian and posted our experiences.  If you’re interested in the intricacies of a copy run, you might want to scan through it.  It’ll give you an idea of the method by which we accumulate our “challenges,” as well as the camaraderie, emotional wealth and hard work that is part of a copy run.
Another of the unexpected and wonderful “perks” of being part of OPR is the friendships with which I’ve been blessed.  My theory is that it’s the nature of people who give themselves to a cause like OPR to be  innately loving and decent.  Best of all, we have a core group of “looney-tunes” who keep the forum interesting and fun (no names shall be mentioned herein – for reasons that shall also not be mentioned!).
I concur with Max that the gift of being able to return something of value to the victims of disasters far outweighs the challenge of working to restore their histories. The rewards are immeasurable.  The “GK” shall be involved in OPR until these fingers can no longer manipulate a keyboard.
And furthermore…
The daughter of a Naval officer, I traveled the world as a child, never living anywhere more than 3 years.  I hated moving all the time and leaving friends, but now I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to experience other lands and cultures.
Beyond my OPR “obsession,” I also claim a fanatic love of language. I’m a compulsive reader, editor and writer.  I’m very much into horticulture (what better place than Florida?) and textile arts, especially knitting,
I’m proudly owned by 12 rescued cats, ranging in age from 8 to 12.  I adore them.  They annoy the living daylights out of Iron Man (hubby).
I have three wonderful children and seven beautiful, extremely intelligent and charming grandchildren (do I sound like a proud grandmother?).
In my younger days I raced small sailboats, earned a few trophies and was vice-commodore and newsletter editor of our little yacht club.  I joined the club to keep my son too busy to get into trouble, and I think I had as much fun as he did.
This is probably a good point at which to conclude the GK’s ramblings