My mother-in-law used to work for an employment agency called Aaron employment services. She heard of the job and told me about it, so I applied. There was competition for the job with at least one other person that I know. But I remember Burt calling me. I really liked Burt’s voice. He told me I got the job, and it was really fun.

I lived in Scotts Valley when I got that job. Of course Rob was still alive. He worked in town. It was a nice life.

At the tannery it was nice to meet executives from shoe companies. I had a chance to meet Ansel Adams. I met politicians because, of course, Norman Lezin was always involved with that.

It felt like I was at the center of a hub. Things were busy. I like books and Norman used to talk to me about books. I enjoyed being so close to the executives.

Here at my current job I work downstairs and the executives work upstairs. At the tannery it was nice to have a close-knit small area that we all worked in together. We’d share stories. Some of my kids were growing up with some of their kids.

I started working at the tannery in 1976, and then left in 84 for Oregon. I came back seven years later. I worked a couple of different places but I got in touch with people at the tannery. They knew that my husband rob had since died.

When something came up I was at a good point in my life to go back to work it that Andree and I’m very glad that I did so. I worked there until I was 55. I took retirement there.

At the tannery sometimes if it was a really stormy the south end of our lot would be flooded. There were times when we go without power and people came in with coffee dressed in rain gear.

I remember the picnics we had each year. Most of the time they were at De Laveaga in the early years. Later on we would have them at Harvey West Park. Sometimes we would have Christmas get-togethers at the yacht harbor.

I’m still friends with some of my former co-workers there. We still get together for dinner.

There were thirteen of us in the main office and everyone seemed to get along very well. At least four of us get together every few months. We go to the movies and things. I wish I had seen more of the guys as well.

The best times for me were and my husband was still around. He would meet at the tannery and we would go to lunch. The holidays and celebrations were good, too. We had a steake barbecue once a year. I liked being able to shop at the Salz Leather store next door to the main office. We got a discount.

When I was shopping in other stores I couldn’t always tell if the leather goods I saw were our brother. But I recognized the names of various companies and knew that we had sold mother to them. For example we sold either to Coach, and I met that family.

I was proud of our people and proud of our product. Our product was luxurious and beautiful.

Working at Salz was different than working at any other place I had worked. For one thing it was a manufacturing business. Later on I worked for a different manufacture but it was not the same, not the same.

I left the tannery in 1997. It closed in about 2000, so I was there almost to the very end. I was sad to leave but it was the best thing for me. I needed full-time work, and that was important.

But in one way I was lucky because some of my children were working at my next company.

I don’t know a lot about the tannery turning into an art center, but it makes sense to me. The Lezin family was always behind art, art work, and artists. In some ways I wish the whole tannery were going to become a walk-through museum. But I’m pleased that it’s not being torn down. It has a new life; a very different life.

The tannery was the best place I ever worked. I had such a feeling of belonging. The girls in the office would share stories. We share books we were reading and things we were doing. Would help each other learn something, and the guys helped us too, a lot. If we didn’t understand something they would explain it to us.

I still remember something’s Burt used to say, such as how to staple paperwork. Another guy taught me to fan my envelopes just might so that I could tell that the addresses were all OK. And I still have a little pamphlet that Burke gave me. It tells you the perfect way to file. I still refer to it.