And I worked. I worked at Newberry’s at seventeen cents an hour, and when I got to twenty-seven cents an hour, they hired somebody that worked for seventeen cents an hour, and then I went over to Penney’s and I got forty cents an hour, and also a discount on all my stuff for getting married. I worked while I was in high school, after I was sixteen. I started junior college in Visalia, but the teachers weren’t very accepting—that’s when they first started the college—about, I would make up my work and only go part time, and worked part time. I worked at the granite works, in the office. And then I’d make up my work in between.

It’s where they make stuff for cemeteries, and I worked for him part time and went to school. Let’s see, from then my first full time job was at the real estate office for Esther McGuire. My family knew her real well and everything, and she became a really good friend. She taught me more in my lifetime about office work procedure and etiquette and everything than anybody. There were some nights I went home and cried. I got my feelings hurt. But she was a lifetime friend, and she was really very intelligent. Did everything just right. And I worked for her and I got married and I was still working for her. And then a short time later I went to work for the bank. My first job with her was fifty dollars, and then I got sixty dollars for a long time. I don’t know. I wasn’t probably making more than a hundred dollars a month when I went from her to the bank, and I got more there. I don’t remember how much. So I worked at the bank after I was married, and then I wanted to get pregnant.

My husband kept saying, “We can’t afford it.” I never would have had children if we would have waited until we could afford it. But he kept saying, “We can’t afford it.” But then I had Doug, and he weighed ten pounds. But he was always tall and thin with very broad shoulders. Then almost three years later I had Beck. I had, after that, I had a couple miscarriages, because I remember I always wanted four children. I had two and then I didn’t get to keep my two. And I worked. I didn’t work—I did a lot of part time jobs when I was home. I worked for my brother-in-law. He tested cows and I did the bookwork for that. I used to sell things to neighbors and people out of catalogs. I would go and visit and sell them things out of the catalog and make extra money and raise my kids. And then after they were in school, I started with The American Automobile Association just working part time. And then I talked Harold into my working fulltime, and I was just going to do that for a while and first thing I know I was looking at the retirement thing. So I worked there for 34 years. I was a clerk in the office and then I ended up being office supervisor. So I did that until I retired, and when I retired, Harold had been on the machine for a long time and that’s when he started getting really bad when I retired. I retired at 62.

I was working at the bank, and I was secretary. I was secretary to the manager and the assistant manager, but then they started taking the boys from the bank, so then I was the cashier and typed up war bonds and all kinds of stuff that boys did. I worked in the bookkeeping department. Wherever I was needed, if I didn’t have too much work for the manager then I worked up there. And we took the place and then that’s when things that I used… we did the exact same work that those boys did when they left but we got paid a lot less. You know, I had that all through my life, especially in those years because men got paid—I realized they should get paid more if they are taking responsibility—but we used to in all our work, we took the same responsibility and we should get paid the same. But you didn’t. I don’t believe in all that marching and all the stuff that women do to get their place, but that was one thing that always bothered me when I worked because even as an office supervisor I didn’t get paid for that responsibility I took. Nowadays it’s much better in most places. It’s really good. About the time I was going to retire, the last few years, is when our wages started going up. I feel you should be paid for the type of work you’re doing responsibility.