Twin sisters Lauren and Regan Doll, who are seventh graders at Gering Junior High School, started volunteering at the Legacy of the Plains Museum last year, and they’ve spent numerous hours volunteering at the museum again this summer. They say they love volunteering at the museum because it’s given them a chance to learn more about history, especially in this area, and also because they get to spend extra time around their grandma, Patricia Doll, and aunt, Betty Tripoli, who have been volunteering at the museum for the last 9 years.
JEFF FIELDER Editor
GERING – When Patricia Doll of Gering retired nine years ago after teaching elementary school students for 30 years, she looked forward to doing some volunteer work for various organizations.
One of them was the Legacy of the Plains Museum in Gering.
“I taught fourth grade for a long time, and we always went to the museum,” Doll said. “I’ve always been a history nut, so going to the museum was a lot of fun for me, too. It’s an amazing museum – we’re lucky to have a museum like that in this community. So, when I was thinking about places to volunteer at, I thought about the museum right away.”
At about the same time that Doll retired, her sister, Betty Tripoli, retired, too. Tripoli then moved from Denver to Gering, and she, too, began volunteering at the museum.
Doll said she and her sister love lending a helping hand at the museum. They do a variety of tasks, including working in accessions, serving on the preservation committee, archiving, and setting up displays.
“It’s so much fun to see all the things that come into the museum and the behind-the-scenes kind of things,” Doll said. “There’s always something to do at the museum, and every day is different.”
Doll enjoyed volunteering so much at the museum that one day last year she decided to ask her twin granddaughters – Lauren and Regan, who are both 12 and are currently seventh-graders at Gering Junior High School – if they, too, would like to spend a few hours volunteering at the museum.
Lauren and Regan were excited about the opportunity.
“My grandma explained some of the things they did at the museum, like accessions, and it sounded really cool to me,” Regan said. “I had been to the museum before as part of school trips, and I really like going to the museum. So, I thought it would be fun to help out there. My grandma and my aunt said that if we didn’t like it, we wouldn’t have to go back.”
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