Oct. 4, 2001
Olga Corey
Mr. Lincolns Staunchest Foggy Bottom Fan
The Foggy Bottom Community recently lost Olga
Corey, one of its most visible figures, and a good friend to many GW
students, faculty, and staff. Below is an excerpt from a profile of
Corey that ran in the April 1997 edition of ByGeorge!
By Jane Lingo
From education to politics to independent consulting, thats the
career path of 30-year Foggy Bottom resident Olga Corey.
The daughter of intellectuals her father a professor of economics
and her mother a professor of German and Russian she grew up
in New York, NY. At the end of her third year of undergraduate studies
at Queens College, her parents transferred to teaching positions at
Antioch College in Ohio. She accompanied them, but only stayed one semester.
You like where you have been, explains Corey. She returned
to New York, worked at a sales job for Macys department store,
and graduated from Queens College with a bachelors degree in English.
Her first job was with the International Student Assembly in New York.
Her last position in the political world was as chief of staff for Sen.
Carol Moseley-Braun (DIL). She entered the free-lance field in
1996, and now is busy with three or four projects at once.
In the intervening years, she advanced through positions of increasing
responsibility. One thing led to another, she says of her
climb. After the International Assembly, Corey went to work for labor
unions, first with the textile workers and later with the electrical
workers.
In those days I traveled a lot, Corey tells. I was
in Pennsylvania and Ohio and several other states. I love organizing.
You have to like people. You felt you were doing something to help people.
Later Coreys career took her to the Windy City.
It was instant love after New York. The first thing is, Chicago
has that lake. It was like a small town with all those neighborhoods.
Midwestern people are friendly anyway. She adds that she can almost
always tell tell if a student is from Illinois.
Corey explains that Chicago is where she learned politics.
She became assistant public relations director for Roosevelt College,
now Roosevelt University.
It was the first school in Chicago to admit blacks, she
notes. It was just such an exciting place to be. I can remember
Mrs. Roosevelt coming for the 25th anniversary of the school. I have
never been in such awe of anybody.
Coreys attachment for Illinois is long-lasting. She first came
to Washington, DC, in 1965, and when Feb. 12 rolled around, she thought
how nice it was to have a holiday. About 10:30 am her secretary called
to ask, Arent you coming in to work today? At that
point Corey learned that the birthday of Abraham Lincoln was not a holiday
in the District of Columbia. Still, she did not go in. Instead she called
every friend from Illinois she had and threw a birthday party for Mr.
Lincoln, complete with a big cake and singing. She has been hosting
the celebration ever since, and even drapes red, white, and blue bunting
around her apartment.
Coreys first post in Washington was as a public information officer
for the Equal Education Opportunities Program of the US Office of Education.
She moved on to serve as communications director for the AFL-CIO Human
Resources Development Institute, and then became director of the State
of Illinois Office in Washington. During five years in that post, Corey
served as a member of the governors cabinet, supervised monitoring
of federal and agency developments, and made policy recommendations
directly to the governor.
At the US Environmental Protection Agency, Corey worked for two separate
periods in communications, managing strategies and outreach efforts
for agriculture, industry, and local government. Corey also was responsible
for developing new, non-traditional audiences for EPA and Energy Department
programs. For her efforts, Corey was awarded the EPA Bronze Medal. It
was from the EPA that Corey joined the staff of Moseley-Braun.
Finding a Home In Foggy Bottom
Im a very urban person, Corey says of herself. Joining
the Foggy Bottom Association was automatic for me. She is currently
a board member. She wrote a history of Foggy Bottom.
Im an old-movie buff, Corey says, noting that she
once was able to walk to 30 movie theaters from her home. Now
there are just four left in the West End.
She greatly enjoyed the recent month of Mastroianni and Bogart movies
at the Kennedy Centers American Film Institute.
Its not the same seeing a movie at home. I like to go out
to the theatre.
A current initiative on Coreys part is the gathering of key telephone
numbers in the neighborhood to be used in case of emergency. She is
collecting phone numbers of apartment managers and other important individuals
for this project.
Corey also thinks Foggy Bottom should have a bulletin board and she
is working on finding a place to put it. She is editing a newsletter
called Sustainable Development, which advances the idea that people
should live their lives in such a way that communities use their resources
to meet current needs while ensuring that adequate resources are available
for future generations.
I feel so strongly about people having a sense of community in
their lives, she says.
Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu