After 35 years, GEB’s Marsha Yarbro retires the end of this week!

Marsha Yarbro began work in the teaching labs in November of 1987 when the General Education Building was 10 years old. She had a great resume of accomplishments in the clinical field; but this was her first foray into education. She has done a magnificent job and hundreds of medical technologists in the Mid-South and beyond have benefited from her excellent work ethic, attention to detail and Care (with a capital C).

Here is a quote from a long-time faculty member:

“Marsha continually does much more than is expected of her in preparation of laboratory sessions for the students. She anticipates the needs of both faculty and students in every lab session she sets up. Lab exercises she prepared go very smoothly and professionally. It is evident that she cares greatly for her job and her enthusiasm is uncontained. She watches the GEB teaching budget for lab sessions in her charge carefully and finds innovative ways to make the dollars stretch to cover the procedures we all believe are important for the students. Marsha consistently exceeds our expectations, and we are blessed to have such a caring educational staff member at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.”

Marsha makes microbiological media and then cultures the organisms that students will study. Sometimes the subculturing and shifting of specimens from incubator to refrigerator are timed so that Marsha must come back to her labs on weekends, on holidays, or even on snow days when the rest of us are nestled comfortably in our homes. Marsha pounds the tile lab floors and soldiers on. Marsha has adapted to the good, the bad, and the ugly. Most of our equipment has been top notch and modern but others have required considerable attention as defects necessitate workarounds. Marsha sticks with the machines until problems are resolved.

Change has come as, inevitably, it will. Marsha has adapted to new procedures, new courses, new instructors and now a new setting as the GEB labs are being renovated. From a professional perspective, Marsha has been very zealous to get continuing education and has been active in the local Memphis chapter, MSCLS, rising to the level of president. Marsha knits and crochets gifts for others including many babies. Many more with needs have also benefited. In fact, if you share a need with Marsha, she will almost exhaust herself to try to meet it. She is too shy for parties and parades and gun salutes…so, this kudo is meant to be a tip of the hat to a person who truly counts in the ways that matter most! Please wish Marsha many more golden years at melliott@uthsc.edu.

Thank You and Happy Retirement, Marsha!

To submit a Kudos, please contact Jean Perdicaris.