Carol Bolton Betts retired on Tuesday. As good copy editors do, she knew what to look for in a manuscript, saw things that most do not, and excelled in the collaborative process of making a book. Her long and productive career at the Press was marked by technical skill, curiosity, professionalism, and a well-honed sense of humor. Co-workers benefited not only from numerous batches of killer brownies but also from the opportunity to travel the world via one of the Midwest’s larger collections of snow globes. She’ll be missed.

Gary Allen, author of the recently published book The Herbalist in the Kitchen says, “Rosemary, sage, thyme, and dill are among the few herbs that hold their flavor well when baked,” in an Associated Press article on cooking with herbs during the upcoming holiday season. The Dallas Morning News, one of the many newspapers across the United States to run the piece, includes sage advice on preparing roast turkey, gravy, ham, stuffing, biscuits and rolls, potatoes, and cranberry sauce. Mmmm.

(Editor’s Q: Mary Giles, how many Ms in Mmmm?)

Yielding the product of extended effort and revision to the care of a stranger requires a leap of faith on the part of any author, but that stranger—with luck and cooperation—can free a manuscript from infelicities of construction, fact, or logic. The author’s name is on the book, but the copy editor can improve the book—often by asking the questions an informed reader would ask and prompting revisions or clarifications. The ideal is for both parties to work as a team, shaping a sometimes unwieldy manuscript into an accessible, well-organized volume.

Mary Giles has recently retired after editing books and journals at the University of Illinois Press for more than twenty years.