Hazel was always supportive of my working outside our home. She was a hardworker herself as was Harold. She worked at a large packing house between Selma and Reedley where she was their bookkeeper. She had worked there many harvest seasons and sometimes even during the off year time.
She liked the work and the people. The job made her feel useful, even knowing she had the dreaded cancer doing it's best to kill her. During those years she was off and on in the hospital and had many operations to clear out the latest tumors or adhesions. She struggled with her illness and slowly lost more and more weight and stamina. It was terrible to live through. Terrible to witness day by day. Harold worked as many hours as he could at Libby, McNeil and Libby as the head electrician to support us and pay off the ever looming medical bills for Hazel's treatments. He escaped much of the woe that was Hazel's life but he tirelessly worked and kept his humor up.
I filled out the application for the job at Woolworths and returned it through their mailslot on Monday before school. It's all I could think about during my classes that day. After school I rode back to Woolworths and greeted the manager. She said she liked the application and wanted me to start the very next day! I was elated! Starting pay was $1.65/hr and I'd work 4pm - 6:30pm Monday thru Friday with my weekends off. I'd be making more that at the pharmacy and no Saturdays, terrific! I could go to the movies or run around with my buddies.
The work was easy if repetitive. Neaten all shelves, put the correct things in the correct locations, price everything as it was put out and open the large shipping boxes and stack them in the large warehouse room in the back of the store. The cashier, Mary, was nice and easy to get along with and helped me with prices when the manager was unavailable...on a smoke break or chatting with her friends or the owner on her office phone. The worst part of the job was the monthly inventory which always tookplace on the last Saturday of the month. The mechandise was soupto nuts, hundreds of items and, sometimeshundreds to count of each one! It lso made for one very long Saturday, typically we worked to get it all done by 7or 7:30 but there were times, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years when big shipments came in and it took until 8 or 9pm to complete the counts. I liked working there, it was clean, cool in warm weather (it had Air Conditioning!) and the manager was good to her employees. I got laid off just after the last Saturday following Easter. I couldn't escape that last inventory!
She liked the work and the people. The job made her feel useful, even knowing she had the dreaded cancer doing it's best to kill her. During those years she was off and on in the hospital and had many operations to clear out the latest tumors or adhesions. She struggled with her illness and slowly lost more and more weight and stamina. It was terrible to live through. Terrible to witness day by day. Harold worked as many hours as he could at Libby, McNeil and Libby as the head electrician to support us and pay off the ever looming medical bills for Hazel's treatments. He escaped much of the woe that was Hazel's life but he tirelessly worked and kept his humor up.
Fruitvale Elementary School
I filled out the application for the job at Woolworths and returned it through their mailslot on Monday before school. It's all I could think about during my classes that day. After school I rode back to Woolworths and greeted the manager. She said she liked the application and wanted me to start the very next day! I was elated! Starting pay was $1.65/hr and I'd work 4pm - 6:30pm Monday thru Friday with my weekends off. I'd be making more that at the pharmacy and no Saturdays, terrific! I could go to the movies or run around with my buddies.
Selma High School, Science Building 1958
The work was easy if repetitive. Neaten all shelves, put the correct things in the correct locations, price everything as it was put out and open the large shipping boxes and stack them in the large warehouse room in the back of the store. The cashier, Mary, was nice and easy to get along with and helped me with prices when the manager was unavailable...on a smoke break or chatting with her friends or the owner on her office phone. The worst part of the job was the monthly inventory which always tookplace on the last Saturday of the month. The mechandise was soupto nuts, hundreds of items and, sometimeshundreds to count of each one! It lso made for one very long Saturday, typically we worked to get it all done by 7or 7:30 but there were times, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years when big shipments came in and it took until 8 or 9pm to complete the counts. I liked working there, it was clean, cool in warm weather (it had Air Conditioning!) and the manager was good to her employees. I got laid off just after the last Saturday following Easter. I couldn't escape that last inventory!
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