Certified safety professional Amy Stewart and I began following one another on Twitter before connecting through a more primitive means.
Do you remember postcards? Amy did, and her choice to sporadically send me one from her Mount Vernon, Ohio, home around the holidays years ago still brings delight.
For many falls thereafter, we found one another after Opening Session of the NSC Safety Congress & Expo to say hello. Even in a sea of thousands, the pursuit proved rather easy; Amy, who long engaged with the National Safety Council’s Transportation Safety Division, usually sat in the front row.
Her presence at each show and around the occupational safety world will now endure in spirit. Amy, 65, died at her home in October 2022 after a short illness. The sad news reached my mailbox in February, courtesy of a letter from a friend of Amy.
I’ll miss my association with Amy, no question, but in the tradition of our last face-to-face encounter and its unexpected parting gifts, aspire to keep the essence going.
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, a college professor with whom I’ve remained in touch wrote about a baseball beat writer who I grew up reading. The story of the beat writer’s penchant for penning postcards while traveling around North America inspired me on multiple levels.
This coupled with a high school classmate’s social media post about still staying close with his kindergarten teacher sent me into writing. Whether by letter or postcard, I sought to swat away the disconnectedness of the pandemic – one stamp at a time.
I didn’t get the opportunity to tell Amy of this hobby until September, when we reconnected at the 2022 NSC Congress & Expo in San Diego. She smiled at the story and my recollection of her holiday postcard, which showed horses and other features of her home. She then reached into her bag to offer a handful of postcards adorned with the American flag.
That day, I found a mailbox near the hotel to see whether one of Amy’s Old Glories could beat her back to central Ohio.
That week, I met the baseball beat writer in question on the hotel elevator. He was in town to cover a series at San Diego’s Petco Park, and I’d returned from a souvenir shop to buy what else? Postcards.
It all seemed serendipitous then, but learning about Amy’s death reinforced the power of relationships, even those that we might only revisit occasionally.
Human connection is a vital fuel that can boost worker engagement and performance. Are there challenges to recreating camaraderie amid the expansion of remote work and hybrid office environments? Of course. But employers still try.
Some aim to channel water-cooler talk and laughter by being more conversational during portions of virtual team meetings. Others organize virtual trivia nights, escape rooms or related activities.
The proverbial “old school” remains in session, too. Well before our phone cameras processed photos by the second and 140 characters were king, there was volleying communication via the “Pony Express.”
It may be outdated, but it still is effective. The late Amy Stewart, CSP, bears proof.
By Kevin Druly
Associate Editor of Publications at NSC
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