Silver Circle Profiles
A Look at Helen Carey and Ginger Carey
posted: August 2006The Carey Sisters get in on the ground floor with SAS®.
Helen Carey was excited when she saw a SAS software demonstration by Dr. Jim Goodnight at North Carolina State University in 1973. She was visiting the institution from the University of Hawai'i (UH), where she worked in computer services.
Goodnight, SAS founder and CEO, was working at NC State, developing a statistical analysis system. Three years later, Goodnight moved to a small space above a garage and began privately marketing software products, so Helen was introduced to SAS software before SAS existed as a business institution.
When Helen returned to UH, she told her manager about the new software. "I was very excited to learn that UH could get the software for $50," Helen said. "I told my manager that we must get it, but this request was turned down because we already had SPSS."
The next year, Helen and her manager met John Sall, co-founder and Executive Vice President of SAS, at an IBM Share conference. "He explained that we could get the software for $1 because we were a land grant college," Helen said. Sall sold her manager on getting SAS for a buck, so UH became an early user of SAS software, and Helen had a chance to learn and grow along with the company, which was officially established in 1976.
College class shapes a future
Helen became interested in computers during her undergraduate years at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC. She took a computing course on assembler language. "Winthrop didn't even have a computer at that time, so solutions to problems were written out and graded," said Helen.
Building on her introduction to and interest in computer technology, Helen accepted a graduate teaching assistantship at Western Michigan University where she completed an MA in mathematics. In addition to teaching a Fortran programming class, she was also tasked with operating the computer at the campus computer center.
The sisters move to Hawaii and land jobs at the UH
After graduating from college, Helen and her sister Ginger, moved to Hawai'i, where their older sister and family lived. Within a month, Helen took a position at the University of Hawai'i Computing Center. Three years later, Ginger joined the UH staff in the Analytical Studies Office and later joined her sister in the Computing Center.
Helen and Ginger enjoyed both working with and learning about new software solutions and giving hands-on assistance to the campus community.
"I started using SAS to help faculty, staff and students as part of their research or statistics classes," said Helen. "When SAS/GRAPH became available, I was ecstatic. It was so much easier to use it to create graphs than using Fortran and Calcomp plotter subroutines."
In addition to providing classroom and faculty/staff support, Helen designed and wrote the SAS programs for CAFE, a campuswide course and faculty evaluation system, 16 years ago.
"Those same SAS programs are used today, though they have been migrated from the IBM mainframe with line printers to a PC with laser printers," Helen noted.
At the beginning of Ginger's SAS career, she installed the SAS software on the Computing Center's IBM mainframe. Ginger provides technical support for campus SAS users, as well as writes in-house documents and teaches SAS workshops.
"Helping SAS users means that every day I am doing what I enjoy doing," Ginger said. "SAS users are some of the nicest people I know. The SAS users I help are grateful, and they want to learn more about SAS."
Ginger continues to work full-time in the UH Information Technology Services (ITS) office. She has enough years served to retire with full benefits, so she's been thinking about her future. She hasn't made any firm decisions, but she said, "I'll always be involved in teaching and learning."
Helen has retired from the university and now works for a dental insurance company analyzing data using SAS. She also does consultation work at UH, including analyzing surveys distributed in the middle and high schools to determine youth risk behavior.
Touching base with fellow SAS users Educational and fun
Ginger first became involved with SAS users groups when she attended SUGI 13 (SAS Users Group International) in Orlando, FL. Helen joined her sister the next year for SUGI 14 in San Francisco, CA. Ginger has missed only one SUGI conference (now renamed SAS Global Forum) since her first, and Helen has been able to attend every year.
"Technology is always changing. It is important to keep learning, to see the latest products and to learn about the services," said Ginger. "The easiest way to do this is to attend SAS conferences."
When SUGI 17 was scheduled for Hawai'i in 1992, the sisters organized the Hawai'i SAS users group. The next year at SUGI, the duo wrote presented a paper they co-wrote. Since that time, the sisters have been actively involved in local, regional and international conferences.
"We promote volunteering at SAS conferences because we find that you really get more out of the conference when you are involved," said Ginger.
The sisters have been section chairs at SUGI and WUSS (Western Users of SAS Software) conferences and have presented papers and taught SAS classes from Hawai'i to the United Kingdom. Ginger was the conference co-chair at WUSS '95.
Helen and Ginger typically work as a team. "We divide the paper or class into sections that each one works on separately," said Helen. "If one of us gets tired or stuck with a particular section, the other can take over for a while."
Building a book — a wonderful experience
When Helen and Ginger put together the SUGI 18 presentation, they wanted to build on the conference year number theme. Eighteen tips seemed a bit skimpy, so they decided to put together 180 tips for SAS users. With only 20 minutes to present information, the sisters were unable to present even half the tips. They still won the best contributed paper award in the Training and User Support section.
The manager of the SAS Books by Users program spoke with the sisters at the conference. He touched base again a couple of years later and suggested that Helen and Ginger send in a proposal for SAS Today! A Year of Terrific Tips. The book was approved and went to print in 1996.
"Writing a book was a wonderful experience, which involved hard work, long hours, excitement and a great feeling of accomplishment," said Ginger.
As always, working together on the project made the process easier.
"We helped motivate each other," said Helen. "We'd throw out challenges such as we cannot go to a party the next weekend unless we finish a draft copy of so many tips. One time, I was finishing writing a tip on the dashboard of the car as Ginger drove to the party."
Reflections on more than a quarter century of involvement with SAS
Helen and Ginger both say that SAS has been a key part of their careers and lives. Being a sister team and involved with the software, both personally and professionally, has been a plus. "When with family and friends, we need to remember not to bore them (too much) by talking about computers and SAS," said Ginger. Otherwise, the sisters move full steam forward and appreciate the opportunities that have come from being early computer enthusiasts and SAS software users.
Ginger said the highlights of her SAS involvement have included "doing work I enjoy doing, speaking in front of groups and writing a book."
Being a Silver Circle winner is an honor, like "winning a lifetime achievement award," she added.
Helen said, "Throughout the years, I have been constantly saying 'Wow, look at what SAS can do now!'" When asked about her thoughts on being included as a Silver Circle winner, her response was simply, "Wow!"
