On July 10, 1978, Judy Johnson took over full-time duplicating duties at Kansas City Kansas Community College. Now, more than 33 years and millions and millions of copies of tests, handouts and countless other projects, Johnson is calling it quits.

   Just how many duplications is anyone’s guess but hundreds of boxes of paper are delivered every year for duplication. 

   “I have no idea – a lot of trees,” said Johnson, who will take early retirement on Dec. 31. She’ll be joined by two other members of the College Advancement office, Patricia Harris and Karen Atchley. All three will be honored at a reception Dec. 6 from1to 3 p.m.

  Actually, Johnson’s work in duplicating had begun a couple of years in far different times. As a computer programing student, one of Johnson’s first classes was keypunch. 

   “We had to key punch cards,” Johnson said. “You’d type little cutouts and if you made just one mistake, it would kick out that card and you’d have to type it all again.”

   In 1976, Johnson’s career took off in another direction. Switching her major to printing, she took a work study position in duplicating. 

   “I changed because of all the accounting you had to have in computer programing and I didn’t do very well in accounting,” she said.

   With a couple of years of experience in duplicating, Johnson was a natural fit when the full-time job opened. 

   “The person running duplicating went on vacation and called and said they weren’t coming back,” she said. 

   “She was very dependable,” said Pat Harris, the supervisor of the duplicating department, who recommended Johnson for the position.

   “Nobody called it duplicating when I started, it was Room 109 and everyone took their work there,” Johnson said. “Back then, we had large machines with sorters and we had to count out the number of sheets of paper for each job to save paper.” The room also lacked a telephone so the Audio Visual Department rigged up an intercom. 

   Over the years, duplicating would move to different locations in the Print Shop which was located where the KBI is located now and finally to its present location in Room 2406.

    “For a while we had an old drill to drill holes for 3-punch paper and sometimes I would drill reams of paper to have them ready for 3-hole jobs,” Johnson said.

   “One of the best things Xerox did was to make the exteriors of their duplicating machines plastic. When they were metal, you’d shock yourself big time. One of the worst times, I went to the water fountain and got shocked in the mouth. Talk about jumping. Then there was the time I was making a real heavy delivery, so heavy the cart dug into the carpet and I had to push extra hard. So hard I was in so much pain the next day I had to go to the doctor and found I had a pulled hamstring. Also, it was always warm in duplicating because of the machines so people would come to warm up.”

   No longer is it necessary for Johnson to stand through an entire duplicating project. Today’s machines also collate and staple. Sometimes Johnson performs a little “magic” on the duplicates in order to make tests and handouts more readable for students. And after running off duplications in the mornings, Johnson also delivers the finished products to the various departments and mail boxes in the afternoon.

   A lifelong resident of Kansas City, Kan., Johnson attended Douglas Elementary, Stony Point North, Arrowhead Junior and Washington High School. Enrollment at Washington at the time was so large classes were offered both in the morning and afternoons. 

   “I was at the cusp of change,” Johnson said. “When I first started at Washington, girls could not wear slacks. By the time I finished everyone was wearing everything.

    “At the time, our 1974 class would have been the largest ever but F.L. Schlagle opened so students had their choice of high schools,” said Johnson, who chose Washington. A member of the Pep Club, Johnson remembers one of Washington’s best known teachers. “Dee Wallace (Stone) was the drama instructor,” she said of the future movie and TV star.

   A PACE graduate in just the second class of the program, Johnson earned an AA in liberal arts and was on the dean’s and president’s honor rolls in 1985. Just missing academic honors by 3/100ths of a point, she was selected to Who’s Who in American Junior College. An adviser to the Black Student Union for seven years, she also did theater production on various KCKCC plays and musicals.

   In retirement, Johnson said she’s researching her options and will work on “those zillion to do” lists. 

   “Before I retire, I’ve had a chance to see the double history-making change of Dr. Doris Givens becoming the first woman and first African American president of KCKCC.” 

    A member of the 8th Street Baptist Church where she’s secretary of her Sunday School class, she uses a passage from Proverbs 31-26 when asked her future plans: “She opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”

   “As I walk peacefully and quietly out the door after being here in one capacity or another for more than 37 years, I would like to leave the three R’s of retirement: 1) Relax; 2) Reflect; and 3) Rotate the retirement magic of keeping busy in doing the things that keep the mind active, the body active and finally finish all those zillion to-do lists. Retirement is not the finish line but the start of Phase 2 of Life – so enjoy.”