Gehner departs, still optimistic

When Business Services Manager Laurie Gehner left work Friday, the project lost 33 years of administrative, contract and management experience at this property?both at the Homestake gold mine and at the Sanford Lab. 

Gehner joined Homestake Mining Co. in 1979 as a legal secretary. She went on to work in accounting and in the mine?s executive offices, where she handled contracts. In 2006, she was among the four Homestake employees who transitioned directly from the mine to the fledgling laboratory, then called the Homestake Conversion Project. 

?Everything seemed possible in those days,? Gehner recalled. ?The sky was the limit.? 

The following year?on July 10, 2007?Gehner took an important call from the National Science Foundation (NSF). She transferred it to Principal Investigator Kevin Lesko, then like everyone else in the Yates Administration Building, she waited. ?Kevin came out of the office and said something like, ?We?re going to be a laboratory!?? The NSF had chosen Homestake as the preferred site for a national Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL). Gehner joined the small staff in a parade through the hallways, everyone banging pots and pans in celebration. 

Gehner also remembers getting word in December 2011 that the NSF would no longer fund DUSEL. ?That was a shock and a low point,? she admitted. 

But the gloom didn?t last long. ?Everything has been so positive from month to month and year to year,? she said. In 2011, the Department of Energy stepped in with operational funding. South Dakota?s support remained strong, and now the LUX and Majorana Demonstrator experiments are being installed on the 4850 Level. Gehner visited the Davis Campus last week. It was her first trip underground since early last year. ?Even the changes from eight months ago are unbelievable,? she said. ?It?s so clean.? 

Gehner?s biggest challenge? ?Getting the local community to realize that, yes, this is going to happen. We?re here.? Gehner has always been active in community affairs, and she has been a valuable ambassador for the Sanford Lab. 

Now Gehner is looking forward to new challenges, including travelling with her husband, Jim, but Laboratory Director Mike Headley announced her resignation as ?sad news.? In an e-mail to the staff Headley noted that Gehner helped establish procedures and operations for the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority. ?She has done amazing work helping us navigate the complexities of federal contracting and meeting the requirements of the Property Donation Agreement,? he wrote. 

The voyage from gold mine to research facility has been marked by ups and downs, and Gehner has had a front-row seat for most of the ride. She remains optimistic about our future. ?I think I can still say the sky?s the limit,? she said.