Bradbury Science Museum Director Linda Deck Honored At Special Retirement Open House

Linda Deck, center, and LANL Division Leader Community Partnerships Division Kathy Keith, center left, at the retirement open house held Wednesday, Oct. 2 where colleagues and friends gathered to honor Deck in her retirement after serving 17 years as director of the Bradbury Science Museum. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

Bradbury Educator Chelsea Redman and Exhibit Designer and Manager Omar Juveland on behalf of the staff, present Linda Deck with a special wall hanging covered with memories of projects they worked on together during Deck's 17 years as Bradbury director. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

By CAROL A. CLARKLos Alamos Daily Post

Scientist and former staff of the Smithsonian Linda Deck was deemed a perfect fit at her interview 17 years ago to lead the Bradbury Science Museum.

She had been working as director of the Idaho National History Museum for about five years, and being open to challenges outside of paleontology spotted the announcement seeking a director for the Bradbury Science Museum.

"I thought it looked interesting ... it's almost like the Smithsonian because there are so many great researchers with so many great stories to tell," Deck said. "I heard back rather quickly. They liked my good museum background but also someone who knew how to engage in the community and main street. They offered me the job and I took it without knowing much about it so I had a huge learning curve. When I read Bradbury in the ad, I thought, 'Ray Bradbury' like so many do."

Her first day on the job was Aug. 27, 2007 and by all accounts from the crowd of colleagues, community leaders and friends who filled an open house event to honor her 17 years later on Oct. 2, she really was a perfect fit.

"When I first began working here the thing that surprised me the most ... I was amazed at how broad the laboratory was and how hard it was to find information," Deck said. "It's almost gone 180 degrees from then to now with a coordinated effort by the Lab to communicate the good works of the laboratory including the Bradbury."

She describes the highlight of her career at the Bradbury as the recent completion of the Nuclear Weapons Exhibit.

"This project has been the most rewarding. There would be no exhibit for me that could ever top this one," Deck said. "I had wonderful support from 150 people across the Lab who worked together on this exhibit and it was a joy every day to interact with them."

She commended everyone she has worked with at the Lab and their dedication.

"My Heart is full. It has been my privilege to have been the director of the museum," Deck said.

People have asked her if she will move away.

"I wasn't born in New Mexico but I got here as soon as I could ... I'm not leaving."

Deck is honored and thanked for her leadership and dedication:

LANL Director Thom Mason: "For 17 years, Linda Deck has been sharing the Laboratory's history and legacy with educators, students, science enthusiasts in the Northern New Mexico community as well as visitors worldwide. Thanks to her stewardship of the Bradbury Science Museum, the world has a deeper understanding of our mission."

John Hopkins, LANL retired senior scientist: "I want to congratulate Linda Deck for her superb accomplishments as the Bradbury Science Museum director over her seventeen years. She has been innovative, skillful, and most of all a great and most loved leader. She knows the role of a museum. It has been developed to explain in contemporary terms the role and contributions of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from the Manhattan days of World War Two up through the present and into the future. She will be a challenging act to follow, but the new director has the drive, experience and knowledge to fill the bill. We wish him well."

LANL Division Leader, Community Partnerships Division Kathy Keith: "As the longest serving Director of the Bradbury Science Museum, Linda has left a legacy of exhibits that communicate the important technical work done at Los Alamos National Laboratory. We are thankful for the energy and expertise she brought to the Bradbury."

Johnnie Martinez, retired community relationships manager: "Thank you, Linda, for your 17 years of leadership at the Bradbury Science Museum, and congratulations on your retirement! As I look back on those years, I'm proud to declare we made the right decision when we asked you to join our management team. Your energy, enthusiasm, and experience made a huge and lasting impact on the Museum, the Laboratory, and community it serves!"

Los Alamos County Manager Anne Laurent: "I would like to thank Linda for all her contributions toward our community's history telling, tourism, and supporting the creation of the Manhattan Project National Historic Park. We are forever grateful and appreciative of her talent and partnership. Congratulations Linda!."

Bradbury Exhibit Designer and Manager Omar Juveland: "Linda Deck came to the Bradbury as a scientist and former museum director from Idaho with a strong background and passion for exhibit development from her years at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. If you look back at the Bradbury Science Museum galleries in 2007 when Linda started and compared them to today, you will see a completely different museum—every gallery and exhibit here, with a few exceptions, has been changed or updated. Each exhibit project takes about a year to develop, write, design, produce, and install. Linda has been a part of every exhibit project and not only with exhibit development—but also with finding the people, organizations, and funding to get these all produced. Exhibits may make a museum, but being the director of the Bradbury also required managing education and outreach programs including years of LANL New Hire presentations, monthly Periodic Table science chat events, and producing the Lab's Challenge Tomorrow trailers. She also started the museum's nonprofit, The Bradbury Science Museum Association, as a means to fund educational outreach and bring northern New Mexico schools to the Bradbury."

Johnnie Martinez, retirned LANL community relationships manager honors Linda Deck on her retirement during the open house Oct. 2 at the Bradbury Science Museum. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

LANL Division Leader, Community Partnerships Division Kathy Keith honors Bradbury Science Museum Director Linda Deck on her retirement during the open house Oct. 2. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

Scene from the Retirement Open House held Oct. 2 to honor Bradbury Science Museum Director Linda Deck. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

Scene from the Retirement Open House held Oct. 2 to honor Bradbury Science Museum Director Linda Deck. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

Bradbury Science Museum Director Linda Deck, left, receives a bouquet of dahlia flowers from Liddie Martinez in honor of her retirement. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com

Scene from the Retirement Open House held Oct. 2 to honor Bradbury Science Museum Director Linda Deck. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com