‘Good Times Every Day’
NIH Record Editor Retires
Carla Garnett retired in July after 41 years of federal service, including more than 30 years with the NIH Record as a writer, associate editor and, for the past three years, editor and Editorial Operations Branch chief in NIH’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL).
“Carla’s contributions to the success of our office are, quite frankly, immeasurable,” said Scott Prince, OCPL deputy director for public information. “She is a powerhouse writer, a thorough and thoughtful editor and, simply put, someone you can always count on no matter the assignment.
“But that’s only part of the story. There’s a reason she is so admired and respected by her staff, peers and leadership alike. And it’s much more than her obvious skills and talents. It’s her professionalism, kindness and warmth that make her such a pleasure to work with.”
Garnett came to NIH as a high school graduate in the National Junior Fellowship Program. She worked intermittently through college breaks and grad school and ended up spending her career doing work she loved. NIH’s mission and the work to communicate about it proved to be irresistible.
“When I first met Carla back in 1983 at the Clinical Center communications office, she was a teenager who worked at NIH under the stay-in-school program,” recounted former NIH Record Editor Rich McManus. “She worked summers and during school breaks. The first thing I noticed was how competent and good-natured she always was, and how everyone in the office gravitated toward such a center of decency and cheer.
“I was not surprised she decided to work at NIH after college, but I was amazed and gratified that she elected to join me on the staff at the NIH Record in 1988. I consider my partnership with her over my tenure at the Record as the best thing that ever happened to me professionally and even personally (except for meeting my wife at work!) while I was at NIH.
“She is a great writer, an amazing listener, an incomparable sounding board and such a solid character. Day in and day out for all of those years, she took care of innumerable details, struggled to keep me out of trouble and kept me laughing and smiling nearly every day. I remember thinking many times, I need no more reward than to be in such fine company. We paid ourselves in good times every day, which was priceless to me.”