The Carol Burke Student Lounge will be dedicated Wednesday at noon in the student union at California State University, Stanislaus.

Carol was director of the union from 1994 to 1998 and died a year after returning to her native Southern California.

I met Carol when she was an All-American basketball player at Cal Poly, Pomona, in the early 1980s. She applied for a part-time job with the community recreation program I ran in neighboring Walnut.

Like nearly everyone who ever met Carol, I was immediately impressed. She had an attitude toward life and people that was irresistible.

She started as a recreation leader, but was soon given new challenges. She assumed responsibility for a youth sports program, ran our men's basketball league and became a facilities supervisor.

Added to her people and other skills was a remarkable artistic talent. Carol transformed our seasonal brochures into works of art.

A few years after I met Carol, I realized my interest had grown beyond professional collegiality.

Looking back, I'm still amazed that Carol accepted my advances. I'm certain many people wondered how Carol ended up with someone like me. I was 13 years older and half a foot shorter than the object of my affections, and our backgrounds were very different.

Our romance began in the fall of 1984 and six months later we were married.

Shortly after our wedding, Carol left the recreation program and became director of a local YMCA branch. Later, she started at the bottom at the CSU Fullerton union and quickly rose to assistant director.

When the union directorship opened at Stanislaus in 1994, Carol was hesitant to apply. She found the courage, though, and after a visit to campus and several interviews, became the obvious choice.

Carol blossomed during her time at CSUS. I remember a Saturday in 1995. My sister was visiting from Canada and we went to campus to find Carol. The "Zoobily Zoo" was in progress, with a large turnout. It featured a host of animals, including a couple of horses ridden by police officers.

Carol was usually easy to spot in a crowd; not only was she tall, but she was usually on the move. I spotted my wife's head and shoulders as she moved through the throng and pointed her out to my sister.

We soon could see that Carol was pushing a wheelbarrow with a shovel inside. Not noticing us, she continued for another 50 yards before stopping abruptly, grabbing the shovel and scooping up a pile of horse droppings.

That episode, in many ways, defines Carol's management style. Her first impulse, when there was work to be done, was to do it herself. That approach runs counter to the theory that supervisors can be most effective by delegating work to others.

Carol began her student union work as an event supervisor. In that capacity, she was responsible for setting up a lot of tables and chairs. When the time for moving tables came, Carol never had to ask for help. She just grabbed one end and suddenly that table became a magnet. People couldn't resist the opportunity to work with Carol.