New Town Hall staffers like their shared duties

They have adjoining desks and confer regularly each day, but Jennifer Herring and Anji Viola, who were hired within three months of each other this year, took far different paths to La Conner's Town Hall.

Herring is a native Virginian who earned a bachelor's degree in government and international politics from George Mason University near Washington, D.C., served with the Peace Corps in West Africa, and previously worked as a children's librarian in the San Diego suburb of Coronado, Calif.

Viola, a cousin of former Major League Baseball All-Star pitcher Frank Viola, is a self-described "Valley Girl" who grew up in Mount Vernon, earned degrees from Skagit Valley College and Western Washington University, and taught English in Taiwan to school-age and adult students.

Both are enjoying their new work as town office assistants.

"We switch back and forth," Herring said of their shared duties, which run the gamut of municipal office tasks, from the handling of correspondence and facilities' rental requests to sales of yard waste punch cards.

Thus far, no two days have been the same. Neither Herring nor Viola expects that to change anytime soon.

Viola, who previously served a long tenure as SVC's International Program Coordinator, told the Weekly News she was looking "to try something new" when an opening at Town Hall was posted a few weeks back.

Career changes aren't foreign to her. Viola aspired, much like Herring, to join the Peace Corps after college. She also hoped for an assignment in Africa, having met famed British anthropologist Jane Goodall, acclaimed globally for her research work in Tanzania.

"She asked me to come work at her sanctuary," Viola said.

But a medical issue arose that steered Viola to the Far East.

With a collegiate background in human services and psychology, Viola entered Taiwanese classrooms well-suited to bridge language and cultural barriers.

"Taiwan is my second home," she said, adding that "as an American, I was much sought after."

The other English instructors in the school system where Viola taught were Canadian, South African and British.

Herring grew up near the U.S. capital and was well tutored in American history at George Mason.

"It was an amazing school to attend," Herring said the campus with 27,000 undergraduates in Fairfax, Virginia. "It was just outside Washington, D.C., and wasn't too big."

Her George Mason professors were, for the most part, classroom instructors as opposed to those whose primary roles elsewhere trend to research and publications.

"I had a political parties class," Herring recalled, "that was taught by one professor who was a Democrat and one who was a Republican. That was interesting. I also had a professor who had been a CIA agent."

After earning her degree, Herring said she "wanted to do something for my country and which challenged me out of college."

The Peace Corps, whose volunteers serve abroad in support of food security, education, agriculture and climate accommodation, checked those boxes.

Herring went to Togo, on the Gulf of Guinea, noted for its palm-lined beaches and hilltop villages as well fortress-like clay huts and open-air markets where voodoo religious remedies are sometimes sold.

Herring came to the area when her husband, Scott, a U.S. Navy sonar technician, was transferred to NAS Whidbey Island.

"We had moved, and I was looking for work," Herring said.

She is quickly learning not only the office routine, but to match names with faces of town residents and business owners.

Viola was well acquainted with numerous La Connerites before hiring on here. Her mother, Margo Grothe, formerly worked as a graphic artist at the old Puget Sound Mail newspaper in La Conner prior to becoming SVC's longtime Life Transition Program coordinator.

"A lot of people in La Conner I've known for most of my life," Viola said.

Viola and Herring are fast becoming well known to locals and others who visit Town Hall.

"I'm enjoying this so much," said Viola. "I love being able to communicate with the ­community."