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Many
changes in 36 years
The end of an era
The end of an era
Judy Warford
By Maureen
Riche
The printing industry sure has come a long way since the days
of the old Gestetner duplicator. (If you’re old enough,
you’ll remember the Gestetner as that messy blue-ink-and-stencil
contraption the school secretary used to crank out blotchy exam
papers.)
Judy Warford, newly retired manager of Memorial’s Printing
Services, remembers the Gestetner well. She also remembers the
Verifax. And the first computers introduced to Memorial. And
the first Xerox machine in Newfoundland, a technology so uncharted
at the time that it came with its own fire extinguisher.
Indeed, after 36 years and nine months with what is now known
as Printing Services, Ms. Warford has seen a lot of changes in
her field. To many, her retirement on April 26 marked the end
of an era.
Ms. Warford came to Memorial in 1964 as a quiet teenager fresh
out of district vocational school. She started out in the proverbial
mailroom: typing, duplicating and sorting mail for Memorial’s
Department of Administrative Services.
Over the years, thanks to a lucky mix of departmental shake-ups,
professional development and sheer ambition, she climbed the
ladder rung (duplicating operator I) by rung (clerk III) by rung
(assistant supervisor). She was ultimately named manager of Printing
Services in 1984.
At the time of her retirement, the shy girl from CBS with Grade
11 and a diploma in “commercial” was responsible for
the operation of the largest digital printing operation in Eastern
Canada.
Ms. Warford’s supervisor, comptroller Trudy Pound-Curtis,
keeps a file several inches thick on her colleague. It bulges
with glowing employee reviews, commendations from deans and directors,
kudos from union leaders and university presidents, and praises
from Ms. Pound-Curtis herself.
“To me, this is a true university success story,” she
said. “Printing Services has an exceptional reputation for
service and quality, and they have always kept up with new technology
and really, it’s through Judy’s leadership that they’ve
done that.
“I think we should celebrate her, and the fact that she
came here so young and accomplished so much.”
Ms. Warford herself remains fairly blasé about her incredible
36 year run at Memorial. Not quite sure what all the fuss is
about, she’s looking forward to the next phase of her life:
renovating her house and cabin, working in the garden, painting
and spending time with her family.
And as for the technological revolution that defined her many
years with Printing Services, it’s no big deal. With Judy
Warford, as her many clients will attest, it was always about
service first, equipment second.
“That’s your motivation. That never changes along the
way. Our standards got higher because our equipment was able
to handle different variations of paper and typestyle to make
it look nicer. But basically your motivation doesn’t change:
to do the best you can with what you have.”