Remembering Maylow Phillips
Mike Fenner sent along the obituary for Maylow Phillips, and I smiled for all the hundreds of the Creighton family she listened to and helped over the many years she served as part of the unsung heroes who hold the law school together.
Yes, there were the deans and faculty who labored on the Hilltop for decades, but the women who greeted visitors, directed applicants, showed klutzy educators how the new technology worked, and welcomed all to continuing education programs gave the school the special something that set it apart.
Rod Shkolnick was dean four decades ago; he gave some new responsibilities to Ed Birmingham and asked me to help with Maylow as she was the day-to-day person in charge of student and alumni placement. I was still teaching full-time. Maylow rounded up students to have them pull together resumes, schedule interviews, contact firms and businesses, host the interviewers and make the entire process run smoothly.
She did it all with a joy that was contagious. Interviewers from firms all over the Midwest told me how gracious and positive she was. Taking our cue from Ed, we held workshops on resume writing, interviewing techniques, finding unlisted jobs, etc. If it would help our students and grads find appropriate work, Maylow would get it done.
And if there were disappointments because someone else got the job, Maylow was like a patient mom for those young people.
A few years ago, when long-time staffer Hattie Ruppert retired, I recalled how fortunate I had been to become friends with her. There were many others over the years like Sandy Murnan, – who was always at Creighton! – and Paulette Sheridan and Rose Hamilton and, of course, Pat Anderson, who is still there. I met their kids, I grieved with them at wakes and funerals, we shared disappointments over work.
Always, they made the place, real, alive. And, you bet, when we all learned that Maylow had, indeed, sung for the Pope, we cheered, for one of ours had made it all the way to the top.
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