After 3 Decades, Karen Day Retires From UIL
By Stephanie Ramirez | Friday, May 01, 2009 11:04 AM
At her retirement party, the University Interscholastic League staff joked about how many different times Karen Day had already tried to leave the League and wondered if this was actually Day’s final time to leave. But this time it was.
After 34 years of service with the UIL, Day’s official last day was March 31, 2009.
“My husband retired last year, and this is the time that we can both travel and visit our kids and grandbaby,” Day said.
In 1975, Dr. Bailey Marshall hired Day to work as a secretary to the athletic director, but she then left in 1978 to be with her family. From 1979 to 1992, Day worked two stints at the League as a part-time employee doing various jobs around the office. In 1993, Day returned again as a senior administrative associate and as an executive assistant to then-Executive Director Dr. Bill Farney, who also retired in 2009.
“It was a transitional period with Dr. Farney retiring and Dr. Breithaupt coming in,” Day said. “It just felt like an appropriate time to go.”
Farney said Day was an instrumental part of the UIL staff.
“One of her biggest assets was that as she worked here and the League adapted and changed with technology, so did Karen,” Farney said. “When I first got here, she was one of the only people who could do shorthand, and by the time she left, she was one of the most knowledgeable people with our [computer] systems. She had a way of adapting as the League did. She was a leader and staff members always depended on her.”
Day said she has always believed in what the UIL stands for in its mission and in the camaraderie amongs their staff, making it a hard place to leave after so long.
“Through all the different directors and people that have come and go, it’s always remained a great place,” Day said. “The League does a really important job making it a very rewarding place to work. All the people really care about each other.
“It’s such a family-oriented place that really cares about the individuals and what’s going on in the individual’s life,” she said. “I’m just really grateful for the opportunity to have worked there over the years, especially to Dr. Marshall, Dr. Farney and Bonnie [Northcutt].”