November 2018 Scrapbook Pages

Marley and her cousin Zach had their senior pictures taken together.  I love how they came out.  There were so many more but these were our favorites.

Throwback Thursday - Pantsuits and my first real job

My first real job was after I graduated from Holyoke Community College.  My degree was in Medical Secretarial, which I don't think they even offer anymore.  

During my second year, one of my teachers told me that she had received a call from the Director of Medical Records of Wesson Women's Hospital.  She was looking for someone to work part time getting medical records ready for microfilming (!).  My teacher asked me if I would be interested and I jumped at the chance.  So, I quit my job as a cashier at Roberts Food Bag and started working at the hospital.  The directer, Miss Hazel French, set me up in a conference room all by myself near the Medical Records Department with a boatload of medical records which I had to go through, making sure there were no staples or paper clips in the records.  The other employees felt sorry for me, saying that it was such a boring job, but I didn't care.  It was like a foot in the door of some place I would eventually like to work at full time.  

By the time I graduated in the Spring of 1970, Miss French offered me a full time job as a medical transcriptionist.  I was working with two other transcriptionists, Karen and Barbara pictured above, who helped me a lot.  Miss French was very meticulous and treated me like I was still in school, but that was okay because I had just gotten out of school, lol!

In the Fall of 1970, we were allowed to wear pantsuits to work.  They were a new phenomenon in the work place.  Actually, the first time girls were allowed to wear pants in school was my first year at Holyoke Community, Winter 1968/69, and only because the school's main building had burned down the year before and they were holding classes in many different areas of that part of Holyoke.  They figured it was too cold for female students who had to walk to the different areas to have to wear skirts, so they announced that girls were allowed to wear pants.  Thinking about that now seems like it was back in the dark ages.  

So, when we were told that we could wear pantsuits at Wesson Women's Hospital, we were excited.  They had to be real pantsuits, though, pieces that were sold together as one item.  They couldn't just be pants and a shirt.  Basically, we all had one pantsuit and wore it once a week.  

I still have the receipt for my pantsuit; it was bought at Forbes and Wallace and cost $30.  

My only complaint with the writeup in the hospital newsletter was that they called me Miss Debbie Radtke; after all, I had been married for a couple of months!!

I really loved that job.  I stayed there until I had Kristen in 1972.