“As one goes through life, one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move.” (Katharine Hepburn)

Kathleen Cockrill is a third generation native of Phoenix, Arizona, an American of Mexican descent, and practicing Catholic. Her family’s approach to a career for a woman in the sixties was centered on becoming educated, and college meant pursuing a teaching career or secretarial work. Of course in example of her parents, she married and worked intermittently for purposes of providing for six children (she herself is the eldest of eight). When she entered A.S.U., she had 120 hours already changing direction from teaching to business and then organizational studies graduating in 2008. It seems that her whole life has been devoted to “teaching” and helping others with family as the impetus for doing and achieving anything. Bringing up children has a woman changing direction constantly from provider, teacher, companion, and friend now that they are adults. One has to be “responsible, forgiving, patient, empathic, kind and persuasive”, or as close to all of these traits as humanly possible. Her spiritual, religious journey has given her an idealistic outlook on life, and naturally volunteering has been an integral part of her life with children’s projects, church related activities, and various community organizations through work. Reading, gardening, and hand crafting works are her passions.

Working for the City of Phoenix for over 21 years, she has helped and assisted internal and external customers from fueling airplanes, to accounting, to answering questions at service counters, phone conversations, and secretarial work assisting administrators. Therefore she has aspired to, researching her career path in an appropriate manner, a Librarian career, which seems to be the natural fit, because for her it doesn’t seem to have an “age limit” in discrimination towards achieving that goal. There is a delicious down beat pace in the library because of the relatively quiet affinity for knowledge. There may be a large group of people vying for your attention with book requests, but the rewards of placing that special treasure in a person’s grasp produces the mythical effect of a magic genie.  This seems to bring her back to her passion for reading and helping people. Life is cyclical. To her a “career” is a means to an end and not who she is. “I am the sum of my total experiences.”