Ithaca College

Mere words cannot express the outrage I am feeling now at the insensitive nature that Ithaca College informed our community of the passing of Jamie Works. When I learned that Jamie had died and was finally out of pain on Tuesday evening, I expected to see an email from Intercom about her passing when I got to work on Wednesday. No such email was sent. I waited. No such email was sent on Thursday or Friday. I waited and waited wondering what was going on and why this was not being addressed. When a student decided to end his life by leaping out of his dorm room window during the night we were all immediately informed with a campus wide email. Jamie fought courageously for her life for two long years yet no official notice was sent campus wide. How sad is it that Jamie gave 35 years of her life to IC and then was forgotten in such a heartless manner. If an email had been sent out to inform the campus then the poor girl that I helped Wednesday morning at the circulation desk with tears running down my face might have understood why I was such a mess. My friend had just died. But no, it was business as usual at the library. It seemed to me that books were much more important than a human life. My mother always told me to “Fess up when you mess up”. How about it folks? You all must admit that this was a mighty big mess up. Are we all going to play “pass the blame” here? We at the library now call HR the “Inhuman Resource”. Jamie deserved better. She was the gentlest most loving woman I have had the good fortune to share my life with. I am going to miss her laugh. I am going to miss her saying “thank you” all the time. I am going to miss her gentle loving nature. When I see the color purple I will always think of Jamie. Jamie thought of others until the very end, telling jokes only hours before she died. There is a void in the library. She worked for 35 years behind the scenes to make sure that the books we all needed were processed. She deserved much better. I could rant on and on but what good is that going to do for her? It hurts. It hurts more than I can express. Is this what we can all expect for a lifetime of service to Ithaca College? You have to wonder. Go in peace Jamie. I love you.

I am very sorry to hear about your friend and I understand what you are going through. Although I did not know Jamie, it sounds like she was a wonderful person. I would probably also be very upset if the news of my friend's death had been handled the way this was. I understand that you are very upset at this time, however I felt that the comment you made about the student who "decided to end his life by leaping out of his dorm room window" was inappropriate and insensitive to those who knew him. Just as you are hurting now, it hurts us to hear someone speak about Morgan that way. I would appreciate it if you could please keep that in mind for future comments. Thank you, with sympathy.

For those who did not know Jamie, she was a warm and loving person. Jamie spent her entire working career at the College and progressed through a series of positions in her 35 years of service. The College was her home - for the past two years she made great efforts to continue to come to work as often as possible, while at the same time dealing with cancer and a series of treatments. The library staff plans to honor Jamie in a permanent way - she is and was very deserving of our thanks and remembrance.

Jamie taught me how to Kapco books at the library. She was patient with me when I kept forgetting how to do it, and she never seemed irritated when she had to show me how to do something more efficiently because my own ideas weren't working. She always said thank you to me, even though I was just doing my job. She wasn't superficial--when I asked her how she was she told me, even when she wasn't "fine." She was kind and generous to me. While I know I won't be there anymore to miss her on the job, I know the back of the library won't be the same without her laugh.

I would very much like the college community to know that, in the last days of Jamie's life, a representative from our Human Resources office visted her more than once. And on the last visit, she brought with her Jamie's 35-year service award certificate and a letter from President Williams. If Jamie had held on just a tiny bit longer, she would have seen these gifts, but the kind gesture meant so much to Jamie's family.
I extend my gratitude to Human Resouces and President Williams for reaching out to Jamie in this way.
Judith Andrew
Music Materials Coordinator
Library